Elon Musk recently encouraged users of Twitter to move on to reverse chronological feed so you don’t have to worry aboutplatform algorithm. According to Tesla’s CEO, in fact, the social network manipulates users through the algorithm. Let’s find out all the details together.
Elon Musk doesn’t like the Twitter algorithm
Very important to fix your Twitter feed:
1. Tap home button.
2. Tap stars on upper right of screen.
3. Select “Latest tweets”.You are being manipulated by the algorithm in ways you don’t realize.
Easy to switch back & forth to see the difference.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 14, 2022
Musk isn’t the only Twitter user to express concern about the default feed of the service. The inscrutable algorithms that determine which tweets should be shown a user can – intentionally or unintentionally – make it harder for them to see the things shared by the people they follow. Regarding this, Musk stated:
I’m not implying that the algorithm is evil but rather that it is trying to guess what you might want to read and, in doing so, inadvertently manipulates / amplifies your views without you noticing.
Musk also mentions the possibility that bugs in algorithms of Twitter lead to unintentional problems that it would be difficult to see why the code is not freely available. Its solution, already proposed in the past, is that of show open sourcethus revealing the social algorithm.
Regardless of Twitter’s intentions, it is undeniable that many users of the service prefer the reverse chronological feed to the algorithmic one, even if this means having to scroll more. It is interesting to note, however, that the company did not remove completely reverse chronological feed from its platform.
As for Musk’s argument that theopen-sourcing of algorithms Twitter will improve the default feed, in short, it’s all to be seen. Making something open source isn’t particularly easy, especially if the contributions and criticisms come from outside sources they are not appreciated enough by the developers.
We just have to wait for more information about the Twitter algorithm and its current acquisition which, for now, it is pause.