In episode 5 of the “SKEPSIS” series, PhD student Dragoș Obreja from the Doctoral School of Sociology of the University of Bucharest, and associate professor Ștefania Matei, PhD, teaching staff at the Faculty of Sociology and Social Work, propose an up-to-date discussion about the role of social media algorithms and the way in which they contribute to the customization of users’ activity.
How transparent are social media when it comes to algorithms?
Algorithms are sets of computer rendered rules, which have the role of deciding which information, or content is displayed to users on certain online platforms.
On social media networks, these algorithms are designed to personalize the experience of each user, according the interests they show in different contexts. For instance, the TikTok algorithm exerts certain complex languages for text and sound analysis in order to identify the sounds preferred by users. Its algorithm is so strong and aggressive that it can learn about the user’s vulnerabilities in less than 40 minutes. To hint the contents the user might want to continue seeing, TikTok even examines the duration of passive watching, meaning the number of seconds that a user watches a certain video.
Are users aware of the activity of algorithms?
We all know the recommendations that Facebook generates based on our digital activity, such as the visual syntheses meant to highlight how our last year looked in pictures or videos we posted or that we were labeled in. These perspectives drive us to question ourselves: how will algorithms evolve on social media? Will there be significant changes?
PhD Dragoș Obreja explains that the users are aware that there are hidden programs that use their personal online activity, by observing that they recognize, every so often, the different interferences of algorithms on social media network, which is why they are used to constantly give certain attributes to these algorithms.
Episode 5 of the „SKEPSIS” will offer answers to these questions and more. The video is available here:
Launched in October 2023, the “SKEPSIS” series is a project addressed to the large audience, through which UB researchers analyze, from a sociology viewpoint, the scientific truth and public skepticism concerning some of the most controversial topics of the moment. The series will explore the profound structures that influence our ways of perceiving and acting, when our health, identity or future are at stake.
The guests of this series, meant to explain the evolution of trust and skepticism regarding current subjects, are professors, doctoral students and researchers belonging to the academic community of the University of Bucharest.
The format of the episodes includes the presentation of the theme, followed by a dialogue between a moderator and a guest.
The video content in this section is produced by the Communication and Public Relations Department of the University of Bucharest, and research results are part of the program “SKEPSIS – Fabricating uncertainties regarding vaccination and climate change. Comparative study of legitimacy in two counter-science narratives”, implemented by the University of Bucharest and financed by the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitalization, Romania, PN-III-P4-ID-PCE-2020-1589.
The video content regarding the role of algorithms on social media networks was filmed at the “Dimitrie Brandza” Botanical Garden of the University of Bucharest.
