How much AI is influencing what we see on Instagram & Facebook
Meta shares new insights on the use of artificial intelligence and its algorithm. Are users in control of what they see?
Are we in control of what we see on Instagram and Facebook?
Meta's Global Affairs President, Nick Clegg, has explained the importance of transparency in AI usage and how people can influence what they see on their Instagram and Facebook feeds.
Artificial intelligence predicts how interesting a piece of content will be to the user, prioritizing its display. For instance, sharing a post is an indicator of interest, so predicting whether a user will be inclined to share a particular content is one of the factors taken into account. Additionally, various predictive combinations are used to get as close as possible to showing the right content, such as those based on user behavior and feedback received by Meta through questionnaires.
In general, there are three principles that guide content choices:
The source of the post - how frequently a user has interacted with that profile/person.
The timing of the content - when a post was written and the initial response from users.
The likelihood that the content will drive user engagement - the system optimizes content based on user behavior, such as the likelihood of liking, commenting, and sharing the post.
Meta believes that this approach will make it easier for users to determine what they see, as everything is based on their behavior.
Personally, I have some doubts.
Recently, advertising, especially on Facebook, has become so invasive that it doesn't even allow you to watch a video without interruptions. It feels like the old days of commercial television when they tried to make money by selling everything and more. Not to mention Instagram stories, which now include sponsored content at least every three or four stories. We are all aware that the profiles we see most frequently (excluding sponsored ones) are not always the ones of greatest interest, and that others may be intentionally or unintentionally "pushed to the background" or subjected to shadow-banning.
Advertising revenue is crucial for these platforms, and with users migrating to TikTok, they need to make up for the losses and prove to investors that it's still worthwhile.
For these reasons, I believe that even though AI will increasingly implement predictive features, we are far from considering users in control of what they see on social media.
