Social media users often come across content unrelated to their interests. On Monday, tech billionaire Elon Musk revealed how the algorithm works on his platform, X (formerly Twitter).
Musk wrote on X: "The X algorithm assumes that if you interact with content, you want to see more of that content. One of the strongest signals is if you forward X posts to friends, as it assumes you like that content a lot, because it takes effort to forward."
This means your engagement (such as likes, comments, and shares) with posts directly influences the algorithm's decisions on what content to display. However, he acknowledged a limitation. "Unfortunately, if the actual reason you forwarded the content to friends was because you were outraged by it, we are currently not smart enough to realise that," wrote Elon Musk in his post.
Algorithms are a fundamental component of modern computing, underpinning operating systems and driving online interactions. In essence, an algorithm is a coded formula written into software that, when triggered, prompts the technology to take relevant action to solve a problem.
The X algorithm is the platform's recommendation system that decides what tweets to show users in their feed. Various factors decide what users see, including how relevant a tweet is, how popular it is, and what type of content users interact with.
Back in 2017, Twitter (X) introduced a new way of showing tweets, prioritizing relevance over chronological order. This change replaced "While You Were Away" with "In Case You Missed It", and still shapes what users see today.
Another big recent change to the X is the algorithm now puts more emphasis on highlighting content from smaller accounts.
