– Algorithm as editor? –
Nikki Usher, a George Washington University journalism professor specializing in new media, said Facebook configures its news feed using an algorithm taking into account tens of thousands of factors.
“Facebook has all the data to tell you what all of your friends are reading, so you have a better chance of seeing things that you are interested in,” she said.
“The reason Facebook has so many engineers and data scientists is to continually make the algorithm better. The algorithm gets stronger as more people use it.”
Facebook is a source of news for at least 30 percent of Americans, and a major driver of traffic to news websites, according to a Pew Research Center study.
This gives the social network enormous power over the news media, which is increasingly dependent on traffic from Facebook and other social platforms.
Even though Facebook is known for its computer coding, it still must make editorial decisions, Usher points out.
“What’s scary is how reactive a position it puts news organizations, which are trying to guess Facebook’s next move,” she said. “That’s a lot of power to put in a single organization.”
Facebook, Google and other tech firms jealously guard their algorithmic formulas. But observers note that a single tweak of that formula can have important consequences for news organizations.
“News organizations are trying to build their strategy around trying to guess the algorithm, and ultimately that’s a losing strategy,” Usher said.
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