By Dr. Tamika Quinn
www.tamikaquinn.com/tamikastake
I’ve noticed something that keeps giving me pause. Some of the people closest to me see completely different things in their newsfeeds, even when we share interests and follow some of the same people. I’ll ask, “Did you see that story about…?” and get a surprised “No.” Meanwhile, I’ve seen it so many times that I assumed everybody knew about it.
That made me wonder: How much of what feels like common knowledge is simply what my feed keeps putting in front of me?
Let me tell you, we can be sitting beside each other on the same couch and scrolling through two very different versions of the world. One person sees community celebrations and business opportunities. Another sees conflict, catastrophe and people arguing. Neither screen is a complete picture, but each can feel convincing when it is what you keep seeing.
We often talk about social media as though we open an app and freely choose what to consume. We do make choices. But we make many of them from a selection already arranged for us.
Meta’s own explanation of Facebook Feed ranking describes using thousands of signals to predict what a person will find valuable. Those predictions help determine which posts appear higher or lower. Following the same accounts does not guarantee that two people will see the same posts in the same order. Personalization is part of the design. [1]
That can be useful. I appreciate discovering information that connects with my interests. As a speaker, author and health advocate, I also understand how valuable these platforms can be for reaching people who might otherwise never encounter my work.
But I want us to ask a harder question: Does what keeps our attention always deserve our attention?
