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A machine learning algorithm then uses that stuff to recommend content which is similar. If one engages with opinionated stuff, then they'll only get recommende
by HDMI_Cable 6y ago
A machine learning algorithm then uses that stuff to recommend content which is similar. If one engages with opinionated stuff, then they'll only get recommended stuff that conforms to their original opinion, forming an echo chamber.
- Tepix 6y agoYou need to change the viewing setting to "latest first"
- gxnxcxcx 6y agoAnd, as far as I can understand, it will disengage itself from "latest first" as soon as it detects you are not addicted enough to not miss every new update with it engaged, thus having zero echo-cancelling powers.
- Tepix 6y agoIt did that for a while, but in the last months it stopped doing that. I'm not even using it very frequently but it remains at "sort by date"
- yreg 6y agoImagine following some people who talk about houseplants. Maybe you like some tweets with the kind of information you consider of above-average usefulness for you. Maybe you praise someone for a beautiful pic of their monstera variegata. The algorithm decides to show you more high-quality tweets and prettier photos. If you consider that an echo chamber then all right, but I don't think it's a useful definition. Is going to a scifi-focused bookshop an echo chamber?
- konha 6y agoMaybe it’s because houseplants aren’t a controversial topic. Take any topic where people hold strong opinions (politics, religion, ...) and start following people you agree with. I guarantee you’ll have to very deliberately look for people on the other end of the spectrum at some point because your feed and your follow recommendations will indeed be an echo chamber.
- yreg 6y agoI agree, that's exactly my point — online communities might be (for sure often are) an echo chamber, but that depends on what content you subscribe to. Specifically on how opinionated-ness-y and on-topic that content is.
- kryptiskt 6y agoIf it only were that well. In reality, when I follow people who posts on various niche subjects, it turns out the algorithm believes I'm mostly interested in American Politics because quite a few of those posters are into that and that overshadows all the niche subjects. Looking at the list of things Twitter believes I'm interested in is quite enlightening about the limits of recommendation engines.
- justforyou 6y agoI think the proper analogy is a bookstore whose titles rearrange themselves on the shelves based on your liminal reactions to the covers.