LessWrong (30+ Karma)

“Maybe social media algorithms don’t suck” by Algon


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1 Insulting My Readers

People keep complaining about how their twitter feed is infested with politics or relationship discourse, how Youtube keeps showing them Anime Girl Butts: A 5 Hour Review, or Facebook serves them up AI generated slop that clueless old-people upvote. They bemoan the tyranny of the Algorithm and talk about how social media companies are Out To Get You. That said Algorithm is fiendishly clever. That said Algorithm only cares about what grabs your attention, not what you want. That said Algorithm sucks.

To which I say: Maybe you suck. Have you ever thought about that, eh, Lesswrong? No, seriously, consider it. Maybe this is just a skill issue? Maybe you've put your locus of control into FAANG's hands and are wondering where things went wrong? Maybe you don't know how to interface with algorithms? Maybe you don't focus on what you want to see more [...]

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Outline:

(00:10) 1. Insulting My Readers

(02:06) 2. Useful Advice

The original text contained 4 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.

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First published:

October 5th, 2025

Source:

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/JQZaFgZak5CqzaFdg/maybe-social-media-algorithms-don-t-suck

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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