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The End of Social Media and the Rise of Recommendation Media

Why friend graphs can‘t compete in an algorithmic world.

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Hi Michael,

Thank you so much for sharing great insights on social media vs. recommendation media.

I also think that recommendation media will dominate or play a major role in how we consume information in the future. As you mentioned, the keys are how good the ML is and how open the platform is for creators.

One thing that I believe is that "curation can be another creation". If one's curation process is open and can be treated as a creation for other people's consumption, then it'd be a fun way of learning with each other and accessing relevant information (I call it a knowledge circulation economy).

I think users should be able to have the option to choose if they want to find content through ML-based recommendations or from their friends or people who they follow. Though the social graph is no longer defensible, having both options can be a plus in terms of optionality.

Also, in the area of knowledge management, the problem with social media is the ephemerality. We are learning a lot from other people on the current social media or even on recommendation media but they need to have a solid way to manage what they learn. These platforms play a good role in sharing knowledge, wisdom, insights, etc but without having a solid system, we'll forget.

I'm actually addressing this area with Glasp (glasp.co), a social curation and knowledge management platform. We use both ML-based recommendation and social media types of content distribution.

I don't usually leave a comment but this post really resonates with me so I'm writing down this.

Thank you for sharing this!

Best,
Kazuki

Justin Jackson almost 3 years ago

"In recommendation media, the best content for each consumer wins."

Best, in what way?

If you make junk food designed to be addictive people will consume large amounts of it. It might be the "best" in its desirability, but it's not the "best" for producing healthy humans.

I'm seeing AI-driven the same way. When I use an app like TikTok, it “entertains” me for hours. But I wouldn’t describe that experience as healthy or good.

What's even more concerning is *who& will control this AI-driven future. As you said on the Every podcast:

"The platforms that will be most successful here are the ones with A) the most data, and B) the most computing power. If recommendation media is all about making AI-informed recommendations, basically the platform with the most computing power wins."

So we're forecasting a future where we're all addicted to AI-driven content, where companies like Meta, Google, and Amazon own the algorithm? No thanks.

Giving people a never-ending stream of content designed to keep them on a centralized platform longer where the algorithm is controlled by some megacorp (and its shareholders) isn’t my idea of a great future.

It’s dystopian.

Michael, I don't think you are wrong, but the horse has left the barn. FB has been doing algorithmic recommendations for a while now, just maybe not as explicitly. They have more tuned it to advertising, so people aren't big fans. But Amazon, and Spotify, have been doing recommendations for ages. And you worked at Spotify but my students have found the reco engine is only so-so. (Youtube is worse though.) Also, Google has really stepped up their recommendation game, so that so many things that you get in your search results are recommendations. You don't even need to go to the website. But social media isn't dead, not by a long shot. BeReal is a new example of a much smaller focused social media network that is quite popular. I think the interesting take is the way TikTok is eating everyone's lunch. You, me and many writers are in awe of the way it works even though it really is a mash-up of other social media. I enjoy TikTok a lot, but there are challenges with the algorithm. For example, my TikTok is amazing, but if you have never used it before, the algorithm is terrible at first. It learns, but obviously, the pain for many people will not get them to subscribe. Algorithms work better when they have information, like your social media network, which is why algorithms and social graphs work so well together. Chances are you might like what your friends like. Also, Instagram (owned by FB) is like the poster child for flavours of the month. They have lost their way and they have been slavishly copying other social media, as directed by FB, in ways that have made the platform annoying and obviously upsetting for content creators. It feels like the decline is more at FB and Insta than the sector as a whole. Also, sure, change is good, as Mosseri said, unless it sucks.

Derek Schlicker almost 3 years ago

Great article and appreciate the write up. I think its fair to point out though, that Youtube has been a recommendation platform since practically day 1, and has yet to really solve the problem of bad actors spreading misinformation, hate speech, or politically extremist rhetoric on the platform. So if we compare social media's ability to self-regulate or solve that issue (vs recommendation media), I actually think social media at its purest (i.e. I just want to be connected to friends and family) feels like a slower spread-rate than recommendation platform.

I've seen too many experiments showing how fast it takes (via Tik Tok or YT) to go down a rabbit hole of extremism, hate speech, etc. As a somewhat innocuous example, I somehow got stuck in ex-mormon Tik Tok (no idea how). Its pretty easy for the algo to send someone down a random thread and if that thread is Q anon or flat-earth conspiracy theories, the likelihood that person is groomed into a certain way of thinking is very very high.

If anything this trend tells me that behavior will get worse before it gets better.

@gr.fromage almost 3 years ago

I get the efficiencies and the benefits of moving from the social graph to recommendations. In some ways it's worrisome because of the potential for algorithmic bias, intentional and unintentional. I wonder how or if humans will oversee diversity of ideas, to make sure diverse and even dissenting ideas are discoverable. It's good to evolve past the social graph for the reasons stated, but recommendation engines are definitely going to have equivalent issues and won't be a silver bullet.

Or Dubinsky almost 3 years ago

@gr.fromage
I'm also concerned with the lack of diversity but even more so with inhibiting innovation. "recommendatio media ... is a competition based on the absolute best content". I think the use of the word 'best' there is horrific. Best for what? Seems like we've completely forgot the value of relying on a trusted source. Also ML prioritizes duplication, not exploration to new areas. YouTube used to be great for exploring new genres. Now all Discovery features there as well as Spotify just self perpetuate users existing preferences. Calling it 'Best' is alarming

@michael_3992 almost 3 years ago

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@michael_3992 almost 3 years ago

@michael_3992 oops sorry, I didn't realise I'm logged in. Was curious what happens when I click "post" as an anonymous website visitor. Hence this test post.

Interesting article. I'm working on something related (a writing platform where you choose purposely what you want to read next, just like you pick the next book in a library). It's too early to show something but I'll follow up here once ready. :)