Episode 13: Algorithms and Corporate Twitter (10/9/2020)

Hey y’all! Welcome to Fast Facts for Gen Z. I’m your host, Callie, and I don’t know anything about anything. Come with me on my exploration of the world, and I’ll tell you everything you ever (and never) wanted to know, through the eyes of Gen Z.

Today’s episode: how social media algorithms tailor your experience to you, and how advertisements work in a world where you are the product.

I know that this topic exists in stark contrast to last week’s, but my mindset this week also exists in stark contrast to last week, so here we are. The vice presidential debate was last night, and debates are just big advertisements, and while I’m not going to talk about that directly, my thoughts on the debate have informed some of what I will discuss. But before we get into that, let’s talk about social media algorithms.

I’ve talked a bit about this before, about how social media mines your data to figure out how to keep you on their app or website. Many of us have experienced that thing where you think of, say, vacuuming later today, and somehow you get a bunch of ads for vacuum cleaners, as if they’ve read your mind. They haven’t read your mind, but they probably have read all your internet behavior and activity. I’ll use Instagram as my example. One time, I found a cool frog, and I wanted someone to identify it for me, so I sent pictures around to my friends on Instagram. We talked about frogs for a bit, and that was it. Now, for those of you who don’t use Instagram, there’s a section called the Explore page where you can look at other people’s public posts, like pictures of their dogs or art or, in my case, frogs. So many frogs. My explore page was flooded with frogs because the Instagram algorithm noticed the repetition of the word “frog” in my messages and decided that I really wanted to see more frogs. They want to show you what you’re interested in, which is nice, but they want to do it because they want to keep you using their platform. It’s also important to note that things you say and do on Facebook and WhatsApp will also affect your Instagram experience, because Facebook owns all three of those apps.

This is similar to what happens to your YouTube algorithm. YouTube is very complex, and I am definitely not an expert, but from my understanding, the basic algorithm shows you content that is similar to content you’ve searched for, longer videos (at least right now), and trending content that a lot of other people are searching for. Your YouTube content is also affected by everything Google and its parent company Alphabet owns. That means your behavior on Google Searches, Google Maps, Google Translate, Google Scholar, Google Play, and the larger Android umbrella will all affect your YouTube content, in some form or another. It may affect the content you are shown, but it will more likely affect the advertisements you’re shown.

Usually, the algorithms are so subtle you don’t even notice them working. It’s only when you do something unusual that you realize what’s going on. I babysit every week for a nine year old girl, and sometimes I Google things that she talks about so I can understand what her interests are, like LOL Dolls and the gaming YouTuber Unspeakable. Of course, when I type those things into Google, that data works its way into the rest of my internet experience, and then I get advertisements on YouTube for kids toys and school supplies. I don’t love how much data it collects, which is why when I get the choice to give certain data or not, I typically choose not. For example, I choose not to let YouTube know how old I am, so it cannot cater advertisements to me based on my age group. But at the same time, withholding that one piece of data doesn’t really do any good. It can see all my behavior, it doesn’t need to know my age to do its job. And so I think, “aha, I’ve outsmarted them,” and sit back all smug, when I’ve actually done nothing and they retain my use of the platform.

So what can you do? Well, you can install ad blockers. You can use incognito mode. My dad regularly clears his search and watch histories. You can manually block ads, promoted tweets, promoted posts. But I haven’t really talked about why you would want to avoid this data collection or even why to care about it – I’ve just told you it exists. So what’s wrong with this?

Well, mostly what’s wrong with it is that it stops you from thinking independently without you even noticing. Let’s take corporate Twitter for an example. For reference, when I say “corporate Twitter,” I mean the growing trend of large brands and corporations being active on Twitter. Advertising on Twitter is both usual and unusual. You have the usual promoted posts, advertisements you would usually see on the sidebars of websites. That, while annoying, is normal. What isn’t as normal is that on Twitter, brands can have accounts. The assumption that we, the users, make when interacting with Twitter and other social media content is that on the other side of the screen, on the other side of that username we’re interacting with, is another human person. Whether the intent is to befriend, entertain, discuss, or even harm, we assume that we are interacting with another person. When brands are bad at Twitter, we are extremely aware that they’re just corporations, just advertisements. But when brands are good at Twitter, they slip right under our noses.

Let me explain a little bit further. Let’s look at the Twitter of DuckDuckGo, an internet browser designed to protect your privacy. When you scroll through their feed, most of their posts read as advertisements. You see them announce new features, and you think, okay yeah, ad. Right now, they’re doing some politics with internet privacy in California, and when they talk about that, you think, alright, more corporate interests in politics, not ideal but that’s normal, sure. It sorts itself into your brain along with that paper towel ad and a political ad for a candidate you’ve never heard of. It fits!

Not followed by anyone I’m following… gee, I wonder why

3.7 million followers. How?? Who is following Wendy’s Twitter?

Now let’s look at Wendy’s Twitter. Wendy’s, the fast food restaurant, is quite active on Twitter. Some of their tweets read like ads, like, “We brought you the Pretzel Bacon Pub Cheeseburger.” Others read like something a person would say, like, “Yo @Pringles on the count of three list the craziest thing you’ve ever dipped into a Frosty…1…2…3…” Okay sure, maybe it doesn’t sound exactly like a person, but it’s definitely trying to interact as if it is. In the replies to this tweet, the Wendy’s Twitter account talks back and forth with people about what they’ve dipped into Frosties, actually sounding like a person. Wendy’s also uses memes, gifs, challenges, and has even posted screenshots of them playing popular video games like Fall Guys to connect with its audience. In fact, Wendy’s even has a podcast, and the first line of their summary reads, “It’s like your friend’s podcast.” This is the nefarious part of corporate Twitter.

Because it isn’t your friend’s podcast. What we have to remember is that no matter how human the Wendy’s Twitter may seem, it is not. There is no friendly Wendy’s employee running the Twitter account, and it’s definitely not a young, hip intern. It’s a team of well-researched, highly paid experts who workshop every tweet, every reply, to maximize the engagement and effectiveness of their Twitter. They know that Twitter gives them a huge audience. A quick scroll tells me that some of their tweets get over 10 thousand, 20 thousand, even 30 thousand likes, and it’s the tweets that read like humans that get those levels of interaction. And despite the fact that those tweets don’t read as advertisements, they absolutely work the same way.

The point of most advertising isn’t to make you immediately go out and buy a product. Wendy’s doesn’t expect you to laugh at a funny tweet and then decide, “you know what, I’m going to go to Wendy’s because their tweet was so funny.” What they want is to build a positive association. They want you to think of them as your friend, as your good ol’ buddy Wendy’s, here to make you laugh and remind you that everything isn’t just corporate nonsense, that we’re people too. They want you to think positively of them next time you drive down a strip of fast food chains. They want you to think of Wendy’s first when you’re craving a burger. They’re creating what’s called a brand identity, the image they want you to see when you think of them. A brand identity makes it easy for them to blend in, to fit seamlessly into your social media experience, to slip into the back of your mind so that they make you think about them constantly, leaving you none the wiser. They’re making their advertising omnipresent, because when you aren’t consciously thinking of an ad as an ad, that’s when it works. It makes people genuinely like Wendy’s twitter, makes them think of it as a friend, as their friend. And they are not your friend.

Brands do not see you as a person, they see you as a consumer. However much they try to convince you that they are interested in you, the person, they are not and will never be. They want to please you, yes, but that’s because they’re interested in your money, not your happiness. Any business who says otherwise is lying to you, because otherwise, why would they be a business? They see you as a commodity.

There’s something I’ve neglected to talk about here, and that’s the role that Twitter, the company, plays in all of this. Twitter, like Instagram and most other social media platforms, is not directly monetized. You don’t pay to use it, and you don’t pay for extra perks in the app. YouTube functions similarly, though with YouTube Premium and channel memberships, they are edging closer to being directly monetized. But Twitter is a multi-million dollar company, right? Wait, let me fact-check that… billion! Multi-billion dollar company! How does it make its money?

Well, advertising. The more traditional advertising, of course, brands don’t pay to make Twitter accounts. But they do pay to show you ads, and the goal is to get you. I mean that literally, since we established earlier that you are a commodity, so their goal is to obtain you and your attention by paying Twitter to show you their ads. Can you see what I’m getting at? You’re not the consumer, you are the product.

I think this is an important distinction, especially in a world where we are literally surrounded by advertisements. We may think we’re so smart, sitting back and watching the ads vying for our attention, feeling all high and mighty about our choices as a consumer, when in reality, we’ve already been bought. They’ve already won. The fact that I talked about Wendy’s today shows that Wendy’s has successfully slipped into the background of my mind as a brand identity. I only talked about DuckDuckGo today because I saw a promoted tweet from them when I was scrolling through Wendy’s Twitter for examples! My attention has already been bought, and that’s what they wanted.

I don’t want you to feel like this is some conspiracy apocalypse theory about how the end of times will come with omnipresent advertising, because that’s not what I’m trying to say. Their attempts to create brand identities only work when we aren’t aware of them. And even then, they may still work, but to be aware of the advertising strategies and the reasons behind every corporate action is to be a more informed consumer, and to retain just a little bit more of your independence.

Thank you for listening to Fast Facts for Gen Z. You can find the transcript of this episode, along with citations for the tweets I reference, on my website www.fastfactsforgenz.wordpress.com. This is Callie, signing off.

Citations:

Wendy’s (Wendys). “We didn’t just bring back the pretzel bun, we brought you the Pretzel Bacon Pub Cheeseburger. And now Postmates will bring it to you for FREE with a $15 minimum purchase.” Sep 4, 2020, 1:42 PM. Tweet.

Wendy’s (Wendys). “Yo @Pringles on the count of three list the craziest thing you’ve ever dipped into a Frosty…1…2…3…” Sep 2, 2020, 4:02 PM. Tweet.