Facebook PixelHave friends train each other's TikTok and Youtube content suggestion algorithms to maximize usefulness and minimize time wasting
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Have friends train each other's TikTok and Youtube content suggestion algorithms to maximize usefulness and minimize time wasting

Image credit: Samuel Chen's Linkedin account

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Darko Savic
Darko Savic Dec 12, 2022
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Friends should help finetune each other's TikTok/Youtube content recommendation algorithms to maximize usefulness and minimize time wasting. Log into each other's accounts and teach each other's algorithms.
Why?
  • Remove nonsense, distractions, and time-wasting content from people's lives while adding more of what people individually should be seeing - content that is useful in getting them to where they want/should be going in life.
  • If you're going to spend time on TikTok/Youtube, you should at least get the most benefit for your time invested.
  • Break out of echo chambers and broaden your horizons. By having others influence your feed, you get some diversity into your life.
  • Friends know each other's problems. Nudge each other's algorithms towards finding solutions.
  • By helping a friend shift their feed to more useful recommendations, you train yourself to being more mindful of what's happening with yours. Take care of yours as you do for your friends.
How it works
A proper way of doing this would be for platforms such as TikTok and Youtube to create a new feature where people can assign others/friends as moderators of their account's content suggestion feed. Your friends/moderators would then get the ability to see TikTok/Youtube as if they were you. Based on knowing you and your life goals, your friends would teach your content recommendation algorithm what content not to show and what to show more of.
The platform's content recommendation algorithm monitors what kind of content catches your attention but also what catches everyone else's attention. It groups people by similar interests. If your group likes a video, you will probably like it too - so it shows up on your feed. If you abruptly skip it (or outright block it) the algorithm fine-tunes your preferences with that in mind.
So the idea boils down to letting your friends/trusted parties browse as if they were you, but do it with the intent of making the feed maximally useful. Minimize time wasting, maximize education/inspiration/motivation. For people that are terminally ill, it would make sense to maximize entertainment.
Drastic changes should require the account owner's confirmation before they go into effect. For example, if a friend decides to permanently remove (ban) someone's content from your feed, you would get a confirmation prompt to allow/reject it. You would read the friend's explanation about why they are suggesting to ban a specific channel/account from your feed.
Until such features are officially built into the platforms a workaround is to let friends periodically log into each other's accounts and browse/organize the feeds manually.
Nudge the algorithm towards solutions
Friends know each other's problems. For example, someone might be prone to falling for conspiracy theories. Their feed would be dominated by Alex Jones type of stuff. A friend would nudge such a feed to display more science-based explainers.
Follow other people's feeds
Another feature that is similar in a way could be to let people "follow your feed". They could temporarily choose to browse Tiktok/Youtube as if they were another (specific) person. By doing it they wouldn't affect that person's feed, but they would at least see the world from a different perspective.
Education course for algorithm trainers
People should learn the basics of how things should be done. At the very least they should first watch a how-to video that summarizes some useful lessons:
  • The change to other people's feeds should be gradual. If it's drastic the feed would feel too foreign to enjoy.
  • Don't make the feed about what you like. Instead, identify what your friend likes. Then emphasize the good stuff, and nudge away from the bad stuff.
  • etc
What else should people learn before attempting to modify someone's content recommendation feed?
Web browser add-on
I was also thinking about a web browser addon where the account owner can let his friend interact with Youtube/Tiktok as a pass-through via the owner's own web browser. That would make it impossible for the platform to know that the friend is controlling the browser. That way the platform cannot prevent friends from helping each other out
tech addictionsocial mediaalgorithm
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General comments

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Marco Agudelo
Marco Agudelo2 years ago
Also should be considered that the recommender systems are complex in nature due to their connections with site cookies and third-parties information. So if user “A” wants to log into user “B” account to improve an application feed, there will be a situation in which all cookies of user “A” can interact with “B” recommender system. So then when user “A” log into user “C” account, it could happen that preferences of “B” differ from those of “C”; as well. Maybe one way to contribute to this idea about having others influence your feed, you get some diversity into your life (besides that when an user follows other users accounts, those recommendation feeds flows naturally for the recommender system) could be to create a solution through a VNC service, that permits not only to log into your account, but within your devices to influence only your feed.
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Marco Agudelo
Marco Agudelo2 years ago
Darko Savic Yes I think that works too. sort of a private browser addon, that enables to manage correctly all cookies information, separating users metadata.
At our company we use this provider for VNC service, take a look at this web browser solution of theirs. I haven’t used it yet, because we installed all the bolts and nuts of the service, but I think it covers the browser idea you are thinking about.

[1]Control a computer from within your web browser, REALVNC, 2015, https://www.realvnc.com/en/news/control-computer-within-your-web-browser/

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Darko Savic
Darko Savic2 years ago
Marco Agudelo I was also thinking about a web browser addon where user A can let user B interact with Youtube/Tiktok as a pass-through via the account owner's web browser. That would make it impossible for the platform to know that user B is controlling the browser
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Spook Louw
Spook Louw2 years ago
Perhaps building efficient and productive algorithms could be offered as a service.
If I, for instance, indicate that I want my feed to consist of training, sport, and music videos, I can pay someone to take over my account for x amount of time, after which my algorithm should be built up to consist of top quality content in the niches I chose.
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Miloš Stanković
Miloš Stanković2 years ago
I think my idea "Individual YouTube playlist recommendation service for better use of screen time" tackles the same or at least a similar problem.
While it's a more realistic approach, I feel, as it doesn't rely on your friends being willing to spend a lot of their time doing it for you, but on the monetary incentive of specialized strangers. A business service.
Also, it's in direct collision with YouTube's and TikTok's end goal to give someone else an approach to your profile in order for you to improve your feed. These companies want to keep people in the echo chambers if that makes them consume the most. That's why this is an issue in the first place.
While they can't really prohibit playlist sharing.
Furthermore, even if a friend was willing to craft the feed for you, they would probably only make a dent on the video feed in the long term. As their correction session would only last 1% to 5% of the time you spend on these apps on a monthly basis. Video by video, short by short, the algorithm would reintroduce the unwanted videos and the user would react to them positively.
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