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The easiest way to implement “open source the algorithm” is to delete the AI algorithm, revert the defaults to reverse-chronological feed, then release that.

transitivebs 5y ago
Sounds great. But it will never happen because of business incentives. I'm focused on trying to move the conversation towards more practical solutions.
- politician 5y ago
  If Elon takes Twitter private, I doubt that you can argue that the quickest practical solution is other than as I’ve suggested. In the secretive context of the current non-profitable public Twitter model, yes, I agree, they cannot do anything useful. Not sure why you got a downvote though, so have my upvote.
  - transitivebs 5y ago
    Oh yeah, if Elon takes twitter private, then all bets are off :) Though I personally think throwing out any form of algorithmic feed wouldn't happen. There are just too many business and UX reasons it makes sense, which is why every major social platform uses them (https://www.socialmediatoday.com/social-networks/truth-about-algorithms-and-why-you-should-expect-see-more-them https://www.socialmediatoday.com/social-networks/truth-about...).
prawn 5y ago
I don't follow many people on any social network and endeavour to read everything those people post. Like you, I want a straight sort of those items. However, I assume the majority of people follow more than they can read, so a huge effort goes in to sifting through the fire hose to provide a filtered taste. Someone with a short following list can see the drama if they look at the huge list of replies that a popular account might get. So much cruft.
- whymauri 5y ago
  I actually do the opposite. I cap my follows at 100 and allow the algorithm to curate the rest. This way there's no stale/old interests in my recommendations and most recommendations are relevant to something I'm interested in right now or in the past ~2 years or so.
  - saagarjha 5y ago
    Right, but a lot of people do not wish to use Twitter this way.

transitivebs 5y ago

Sounds great. But it will never happen because of business incentives. I'm focused on trying to move the conversation towards more practical solutions.

politician 5y ago
If Elon takes Twitter private, I doubt that you can argue that the quickest practical solution is other than as I’ve suggested. In the secretive context of the current non-profitable public Twitter model, yes, I agree, they cannot do anything useful. Not sure why you got a downvote though, so have my upvote.
- transitivebs 5y ago
  Oh yeah, if Elon takes twitter private, then all bets are off :) Though I personally think throwing out any form of algorithmic feed wouldn't happen. There are just too many business and UX reasons it makes sense, which is why every major social platform uses them (https://www.socialmediatoday.com/social-networks/truth-about-algorithms-and-why-you-should-expect-see-more-them https://www.socialmediatoday.com/social-networks/truth-about...).

prawn 5y ago

I don't follow many people on any social network and endeavour to read everything those people post. Like you, I want a straight sort of those items. However, I assume the majority of people follow more than they can read, so a huge effort goes in to sifting through the fire hose to provide a filtered taste. Someone with a short following list can see the drama if they look at the huge list of replies that a popular account might get. So much cruft.

whymauri 5y ago
I actually do the opposite. I cap my follows at 100 and allow the algorithm to curate the rest. This way there's no stale/old interests in my recommendations and most recommendations are relevant to something I'm interested in right now or in the past ~2 years or so.
- saagarjha 5y ago
  Right, but a lot of people do not wish to use Twitter this way.