Algorithms
Social media platforms have become an important part of our daily lives, shaping our beliefs, moods, and choices in significant ways. However, the algorithms that control what we see on these platforms are not transparent and outside of our control.
The Power of Algorithms
Algorithms are the backbone of social media platforms, determining what content appears in our feeds. They analyze large amounts of information, including our actions, conversations, and likes, to create a customized experience designed to keep us interested. While this can have advantages, it also has its drawbacks.
Algorithms have the capability to create echo chambers, reinforcing our existing beliefs and stopping us from encountering diverse viewpoints. Furthermore, they tend to prioritize posts that evoke strong emotions, such as intense anger or joy, over more informative content.
The primary objective of these algorithms is often to retain users on the platform for extended periods and generate revenue from advertisements. Consequently, they may prioritize displaying popular or sponsored posts rather than content from individuals we actively choose to follow and genuinely wish to see.
User Frustrations
Many users are becoming increasingly frustrated with the current state of social media algorithms. Despite following hundreds of people, we often feel like we are missing out on posts from our loved ones because the algorithm prioritizes popular or interesting content instead. Social media companies often claim that we are seeing what we want to see based on our activity and interactions, but this is not always the case.
These platforms argue that there are too many posts generated every day for us to possibly see everything from everyone we follow. However, this raises the question: if we can't even see all the posts from the people we've chosen to follow, why are we being shown random posts instead? While discovering new and interesting content is important, it shouldn't come at the expense of missing updates from the individuals we care about and have deliberately chosen to follow.
The Need for Competition
The social media landscape is dominated by a handful of giant corporations, which has limited user autonomy and given these companies immense power to curate and manipulate the content users see. As a result, users are often at the mercy of these tech giants. More competition in social media would give users more options and make platforms work harder to improve their services.
This is where new apps like Lyrak come in. By offering different ways to manage content and give users control, We have the potential to disrupt the status quo and create a better experience for users. When users have more choices, they can pick platforms that match their values and give them the control they want over their feeds.
Lyrak's Approach
Lyrak aims to address user frustrations by giving them more control over their algorithms.
"Following" feed: This shows posts from people you follow in the order they were posted, with no algorithm changes. This way, you won't miss updates from the people you follow.
"For You" feed: This mixes posts from people you follow, liked and replied posts from them, and other content you might like. You can adjust this feed to match your interests.
In addition to these two main feeds, Lyrak allows you to create custom feeds based on your interests, hashtags, or creators you want to follow. You can fine-tune these feeds using different settings like post type, location, interests, hashtags, favorite creators, and more. This way, you can customize your social media to see more of what you like and less of what you don't.
You can choose to keep these custom feeds private or make them public for others to follow.
Benefits for Creators
Lyrak's approach not only benefits users but also creates new opportunities for creators.
For example, if you're a photographer or a fan of photography, you can follow feeds curated by other respected photographers. This introduces you to new techniques, styles, and inspiration.
We know that fellow creators often have a keen eye for identifying high-quality content, and by empowering them to curate and share interesting feeds, we make content discovery more organic and community-driven.
This approach also lets creators make money in new ways. Creators can charge people to access their custom feeds, which gives them an incentive to keep sharing valuable content with their followers.
Why Traditional Social Networks Resist Change
Despite the clear benefits of giving users more control over their algorithms, traditional social networks have been slow to adopt this approach. There are a few key reasons for this resistance:
Advertiser priorities: Current social media platforms prioritize advertisers as their primary customers. They design algorithms to maximize ad revenue rather than ensuring user satisfaction. Their goal is to keep you engaged with the platform for longer periods so they can show you more ads. That's why they prioritize showing you interesting content over posts from the people you follow because they believe it's one of the best ways to make you spend more time on the platform.
Data collection: The more control you have over your feeds, the less data the platform can collect about your interests and behaviors. This data is valuable for targeted advertising, so giving you more control may be seen as a threat to the platform's data collection efforts.
Centralized control: Traditional social networks often prefer to maintain centralized control over their algorithms as it allows them to adapt to new trends and business priorities. Giving you more control could be seen as a loss of power and flexibility for the platform.
Conclusion
Lyrak's user-centric approach to social media algorithms offers a refreshing alternative to the current dominant platforms. By giving you more control over your feeds and enabling you to create and follow custom content curations, we aim to create a more engaging, personalized, and transparent social media experience.
In a world where algorithms shape so much of what we see and believe, it's important that we have options and the ability to take back control over our social media feeds.