I don’t know what I’d do without social media. It connects me and I get a lot of joy from it. But, I also know that social media, Facebook in particular, uses everybody’s posting history and finds popular words used, to define them and to then send similar posts. It’s called algorithms. The definition is a process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or other-problem solving operations, especially by a computer. Facebook first did this to connect people with advertisers that would be of their interest. But now it is done with just about everything that a person posts.
It’s especially concerning when it comes to politics. If a person posts about a political figure, or policy, or issue, then the system ‘captures’ them and starts sending more info and posts about it. Facebook knows I lean left, and that I have certain important issues, and therefore they ‘suggest’ other posts I might like. So, my timeline is filled with things that appeal to me. There is so much I see but decide not to re-post because I know it might be offensive to some that don’t believe as I do. I probably only re-post about 1/20th of what comes on my feed.
The same goes with others who are conservative, or who are posting about a deeply concerning issue to them.
In time it’s easy to fall into thinking that it is what everyone is seeing. But it’s not. It’s easy to start believing some of the ‘suggested’ sites you, even when you may not have originally thought it was important.
I consider myself savvy enough to know that this is going on, and to hold back from getting in too deep. At the same time I am confident in my personal beliefs and I can weed through what Facebook thinks I might be interested in knowing more about.
But, not everyone does.
It’s worrisome because I think that some Facebook users who lean extremely left or extremely right get information that can be dangerous. There are sites out there that support violence. There are sites that promote intolerance. Sites created to bring out evil.
Congress has had this concern and has had the top people of all social media platforms come to respond to it. But, we are a land of deep belief in personal freedoms and to tell you the truth I understand that. I love that I have Facebook and my blog here to express myself and to know I will not be held back by the government. We know of countries that do not have this form of freedom of speech. These countries are oppressive.
The irony is that our president is the king of Twitter and uses it to his advantage best he can. And recently here where I live, a mayor used it too and now has consequences that may come to his resigning his office.
In the next two months all social media will be bombarded with political messages, sent out due to the results of algorithms. It can certainly sway people. But, it can also ignite more division, and send some who are not always rational, to act in inappropriate ways, even to the point of becoming deadly.
The 17 year old who went up to Kenosha learned of a call for a citizen’s militia there from social media. He also had used social media earlier to post pictures, and to find like-minded people. It turned into killing.
So, as much as we all may love many things about Facebook, and freedom of speech, we must be acutely aware of algorithms and how they effect what is seen – and what is believed.
Scan and be wary.
Marla’s Musings 