• Users of social media platforms like Facebook are part of constant marketing experiments
  • Because algorithms are driven by AI and machine learning, it’s impossible to know how social media companies are choosing what to show — and not show — different groups of people
  • Because there is no “random assignment”, marketers can’t fully tell if one ad might work better than another one.
  • In the process, groups of social media users can be excluded from important messages
  • Algorithms are so precise, they can target people down to an individual level
  • katEnglish
    8•1 day ago

    I mean, still sounds like a black box.

    • mosiacmangoEnglish
      7•1 day ago

      I think the point is that we designed the black boxes to do X and they do X consistently, just with slight variation.

      If I make a cake making machine and it consistently makes cakes, its not a magic box just because I’m not sure if it will be creme frosted or not.

      • katEnglish
        5•24 hours ago

        I mean, maybe it’s just different vocabulary for both of us?

        To me: a blackbox is a thing where input and output comes out in a consistent way, very functional. While the box can make accurate predictions or decisions, the exact reasoning behind them is often unclear.

        • mosiacmangoEnglish
          3•22 hours ago

          Looks like we are on the same page, but just talking past each other.

          That’s what a black box is, but colloquially, it’s also a way to call something “unknowable” or “magic.”

          I thought you were referring to it as the latter, not the former.