I do not have a social media account. However, I try to confuse streaming algorithms by picking random movies and series, which I will never watch while multitasking (when TV is not my focus).
Lol. This approach could have unintended consequences, as humans are generally bad at truly random selection, potentially giving companies deeper insight into your biases, which could lead to greater control of your behavior in the long-term if not done carefully (counterintuitively). Still, your goal is noble.
The best strategy is to avoid personalizing your online activities - don't like, comment on, or watch news online. Your Netflix viewing habits aren't as private as you think so maybe watch whatever without necessarily liking or disliking anything not to "tailor" your algorithm, if that is what you prefer.
I used to engage in online activism for pro-privacy, anti-surveillance, and anti-racism causes, which included unconventional behavior like talking nonsense on my phone or making provocative statements "anonymously" (while obviously knowing that it is not anonymous at all) on Twitter (for good causes). However, this can attract unwanted attention from intelligence agencies, Big Tech, and even the police. Excessive or critical speech can lead to throttled performance, denial of service (nasty ads and nasty recommendations as "payback"), or even more serious consequences like malware or cyberattacks.
While it can be an interesting experiment to push your social agenda and observe real-world effects, it's not recommended for non-researchers. For researchers, it may confirm suspicions of pervasive surveillance or help push social agendas for good causes. I recommend this only for inherently good-natured and curious researchers who want to "provoke" or "poke the beast" in a controlled way. #good_trouble #for_good_causes (e.g. anti-police, anti-racism, anti-surveillance, pro-privacy). Still, be careful out there. It's also time-consuming (I gathered about 100 followers, mostly hackers, before I shut down that Twitter account), and that was during my PhD and pandemic and I don't have time to do it anymore, plus you have to kind of subvert yourself if you want to work in tech or AI, so I stopped doing activism a few years ago and I'm ready to own it if it ever comes up in an interview or interrogation (how else am I supposed to change the world for the better if not by fighting the system?)
I wish there was a social media site that curates power to the users in all aspects, including "turning off ads" as a choice.
Yes, I know, who will pay the bills? However, why don't we incentivize social media users who voluntary watch ads get paid directly from the marketers? The social media site could offer 90% of ad revenue and the owners keep 10% to maintain social media site operational.
I wonder who would be bold enough to start such website.
Speaking of algorithms, how can one improve the acceptable content we want. YouTube shares videos of unwanted videos, but even liking videos that I watch is not enough to expand the content I like to see.
Yup, it's good practice to remember. Every now and then, I go through my Facebook feed and proactively snooze/unfollow/"see less content like this" everything. For a while things look clean, but then more and more noise slowly creeps in. So you gotta really make this a habit more than a one-off exercise. Also forces you to be a bit more conscious of what you're consuming.
Yeah. It's just frustrating that you're sort of having to fight the current to use any social media. I'd love to be able to curate things very directly and permanently instead of being dragged into algorithmically determined flows, but SoMe's gotta do what SoMe's gotta do.
Applause to you sir for keeping your kids off social media until they are older; I plan to do the same thing with my kids. I had no clue you could train Instagram or Facebook that way. Good to know but I’ve avoided those for a while anyways.
For Substack, I know you can hide posts in Notes and be deliberate with who you subscribe to and follow which helps train it that way. Do you do anything else specific to this platform to train the algorithm here? It seems to be that Substack is much less algorithm based than other platforms, but I’m curious what steps you take on here.
Good to hear and it's honestly not that hard to keep them off. We just keep them busy with real-life engagements too.
As far as algorithm training, I haven't had much issue with Substack to be honest. As you mentioned it's not shoving crap in my face via an algorithm and it's normally just those I'm subscibed to / follow / interact with (which I have to be careful if I bump into a troll) I appreciate Substack for that a lot!
Ok, good news! I haven’t tried much to formulate mine outside of just my followers and subscribers. I’m still new-ish to Substack so it’s good to know of any extra tricks I may be missing. Thanks, Michael!
It's funny because I intentionally don't tell my algorithm anything or as little as possible. The only thing I report is blatant and true spam which can't possibly be good for anyone.
Well that's probably a good idea but I find that my way has left things completely open. Because the algorithm doesn't know what I want, it doesn't feed me things that are negative or positive. I get people who are from all over the spectrum and people who aren't political at all.
I do not have a social media account. However, I try to confuse streaming algorithms by picking random movies and series, which I will never watch while multitasking (when TV is not my focus).
That's certainly a method to obfuscate.
Lol. This approach could have unintended consequences, as humans are generally bad at truly random selection, potentially giving companies deeper insight into your biases, which could lead to greater control of your behavior in the long-term if not done carefully (counterintuitively). Still, your goal is noble.
The best strategy is to avoid personalizing your online activities - don't like, comment on, or watch news online. Your Netflix viewing habits aren't as private as you think so maybe watch whatever without necessarily liking or disliking anything not to "tailor" your algorithm, if that is what you prefer.
I used to engage in online activism for pro-privacy, anti-surveillance, and anti-racism causes, which included unconventional behavior like talking nonsense on my phone or making provocative statements "anonymously" (while obviously knowing that it is not anonymous at all) on Twitter (for good causes). However, this can attract unwanted attention from intelligence agencies, Big Tech, and even the police. Excessive or critical speech can lead to throttled performance, denial of service (nasty ads and nasty recommendations as "payback"), or even more serious consequences like malware or cyberattacks.
While it can be an interesting experiment to push your social agenda and observe real-world effects, it's not recommended for non-researchers. For researchers, it may confirm suspicions of pervasive surveillance or help push social agendas for good causes. I recommend this only for inherently good-natured and curious researchers who want to "provoke" or "poke the beast" in a controlled way. #good_trouble #for_good_causes (e.g. anti-police, anti-racism, anti-surveillance, pro-privacy). Still, be careful out there. It's also time-consuming (I gathered about 100 followers, mostly hackers, before I shut down that Twitter account), and that was during my PhD and pandemic and I don't have time to do it anymore, plus you have to kind of subvert yourself if you want to work in tech or AI, so I stopped doing activism a few years ago and I'm ready to own it if it ever comes up in an interview or interrogation (how else am I supposed to change the world for the better if not by fighting the system?)
I wish there was a social media site that curates power to the users in all aspects, including "turning off ads" as a choice.
Yes, I know, who will pay the bills? However, why don't we incentivize social media users who voluntary watch ads get paid directly from the marketers? The social media site could offer 90% of ad revenue and the owners keep 10% to maintain social media site operational.
I wonder who would be bold enough to start such website.
Speaking of algorithms, how can one improve the acceptable content we want. YouTube shares videos of unwanted videos, but even liking videos that I watch is not enough to expand the content I like to see.
That would be interesting.
Feed it nothing but shitposts so that it completes the classic copypasta. Might be showing my age a little, but here's my Turing meme test:
Katanas are underpowered in d20...
I sexually identify as an Apache attack helicopter....
What the fuck did you say about me, you little bitch...
I mean, there is that option too! 🤣
Lol
Excellent advice.
Glad you enjoyed it. Great to have you here too!
I thought for sure this was going to be all about your own personal algorithm, but then again, that's sort of a central thesis here already.
Both!
Yup, it's good practice to remember. Every now and then, I go through my Facebook feed and proactively snooze/unfollow/"see less content like this" everything. For a while things look clean, but then more and more noise slowly creeps in. So you gotta really make this a habit more than a one-off exercise. Also forces you to be a bit more conscious of what you're consuming.
Exactly. The habit part is important.
Yeah. It's just frustrating that you're sort of having to fight the current to use any social media. I'd love to be able to curate things very directly and permanently instead of being dragged into algorithmically determined flows, but SoMe's gotta do what SoMe's gotta do.
Yeah. The algorithm never makes my feed better. I normally do a purge/clean when I notice how bad it got!!
Very useful, Thanks for this!
How do I unfollow a bunch of substacks that I hit follow on indiscriminately when new here?
Good question. If you go to their profile and hit the three dots : settings you can unfollow.
Great tips, thanks 🙏
Fantastic! It's nice to know there are steps to reclaim agency.
Applause to you sir for keeping your kids off social media until they are older; I plan to do the same thing with my kids. I had no clue you could train Instagram or Facebook that way. Good to know but I’ve avoided those for a while anyways.
For Substack, I know you can hide posts in Notes and be deliberate with who you subscribe to and follow which helps train it that way. Do you do anything else specific to this platform to train the algorithm here? It seems to be that Substack is much less algorithm based than other platforms, but I’m curious what steps you take on here.
Good to hear and it's honestly not that hard to keep them off. We just keep them busy with real-life engagements too.
As far as algorithm training, I haven't had much issue with Substack to be honest. As you mentioned it's not shoving crap in my face via an algorithm and it's normally just those I'm subscibed to / follow / interact with (which I have to be careful if I bump into a troll) I appreciate Substack for that a lot!
Ok, good news! I haven’t tried much to formulate mine outside of just my followers and subscribers. I’m still new-ish to Substack so it’s good to know of any extra tricks I may be missing. Thanks, Michael!
It's funny because I intentionally don't tell my algorithm anything or as little as possible. The only thing I report is blatant and true spam which can't possibly be good for anyone.
I find when I put my finger on the scale I can certainly direct it back from the shit-show and toward things that are more edifying.
Well that's probably a good idea but I find that my way has left things completely open. Because the algorithm doesn't know what I want, it doesn't feed me things that are negative or positive. I get people who are from all over the spectrum and people who aren't political at all.
Wise words
Or whatever your favourite search engine is.
Like DuckDuckGo or Ecosia or something which is not Google!
I understand searching Google for consumer needs/things we saw in ads first.