You’re Training Your Social Media Algorithm Every Day

Modern social media apps rely on algorithms to determine which content you see in your news feed. Algorithms are informed by machine learning, and contrary to how it may feel, you are in charge of training and teaching the algorithms to serve more of the content that you actually want to see.

Why the Algorithm Matters

Have you ever watched a video that your friend sent you, and then noticed that you started seeing more and more videos by that creator, even though you didn’t follow their page? That’s because of machine learning and social media algorithms. When you’re browsing social media, your interactions teach the machine learning technology about your interests and preferences. Every action you take on social media is tracked and analyzed by machine learning, which guides the news feed algorithm to serve new posts that you’re most likely to interact with again. So every time you watch a cat video, you’re telling the social media app that you’d like to see more cat videos, please and thank you.

What if these cat videos suddenly take over your news feed? While some people may be fine with that, there are some ways to indicate to the algorithm that you’re a multifaceted human with many different interests. But it will require going beyond lurking and scrolling. Here are some general tips that work for all social media platforms:

Tell the Algorithm Which Pages You Like

Starting with the obvious, make sure to follow pages and creators that make content that you enjoy. This tells the algorithm that you value this creator and would like to see more. At the same time, you should actively unfollow pages and creators that are not interesting to you. If you were in your yoga phase two years ago, and now you’re sick of seeing yoga videos, it’s time to make the extra effort and hit that unfollow button.

Smash the Like Button to Teach the Algorithm

When you see posts and videos that you absolutely love, make sure to click the like button. This is a direct signal to the machine learning technology that this is something you consider high value and tells the algorithm to send more posts that are similar to the one you just clicked on. Social media platforms want you to interact, so the algorithm is designed to show you content that you’re most likely to interact with again.

It’s especially important to like the posts from your friends and family if you want to see more of their content in your news feed. If you don’t indicate to the social platform that you want to see more posts from your connections, your news feed will likely be filled with content curator pages and brands who are paying for the chance to attract your attention. Some platforms have additional tools to help make sure you see the posts from the real people in your life, such as Instagram’s Close Friends feature.

Comments and Shares Are Important Signals to the Algorithm

So you followed your favorite content creator’s page and even liked a couple of posts, but you’re still rarely ever seeing them as you scroll through the news feed. Take your interactions to the next level by leaving a comment or sharing the post with your friends. Comments and shares require you to make the effort of typing a reply or tapping an extra button or two to send the post to your people.

Sure, you’re not breaking a sweat to do these things, but social platforms know that your time (and attention span) is very valuable. Any time you share a post or take the time to post a comment, this indicates to the machine learning technology that this is very high-value content, in your opinion. High-value content means you’ll interact again, so the algorithm will show you more posts that are similar in hopes that you might share and comment again.

Tell the Algorithm You’re Not Interested

Every social media platform will have its own nuances when it comes to machine learning and algorithm design. For example, here are some specific tricks that you can use to update your TikTok algorithm that you might not have thought of before. Meta platforms like Facebook and Instagram offer a decent amount of transparency when you click on the triple dot button of a post, giving you different tools and information about why you’re seeing a particular post. There are different options for posts made by creators that you follow and posts that are recommended to you by the algorithm. Facebook provides a ton of information about every post, while LinkedIn provides very limited information.

Poke around on your favorite social platform to see which tools and settings are available to provide your feedback on posts and videos. These feedback options are available for ads too! Yes, you can definitely hide that ad that you keep seeing, and you can usually include a reason as to why you want it to go away. If you provide this information, it will only help the machine learning technology to improve.

If you don’t like a certain post or a particular creator, many platforms will give you options to hide, unfollow, block, or just tell the platform that you don’t want to see more of this. Use these tools ruthlessly when you keep getting posts in your news feed that you don’t want to see anymore. It will make a difference!

In general, engaging with posts is key to training your social media algorithm. It’s important to follow, click the like button, leave comments, share posts with your friends, and use platform-specific tools to provide feedback. These tips can help you to transform your news feed into something that is full of social content that you truly enjoy!