Take Your Algorithm and Shove It !

A Rant In Defense of Self-Determination

I am damned tired of being pushed around, and I just won't take it anymore. So I am telling all social media moguls to take their vaunted algorithms and put them where the sun never shines.

The final straw was laid upon the camel's back when I recently received an unsolicited solicitation to join a "professional" network whose main self-recommendation was it's "advanced matching algorithm" that would help me to discover "real business opportunities" happening around me.

You have been invited by [one of my LinkedIn connections]...to become a part of the [redacted] network. Join over 13 million professionals from over 200 countries who have been referred to the [redacted] business network. Sit back and let [redacted] find your next job, sales lead, business partner, and more...

I am not exactly sure what the "more" is, but... whatever it purports to be, I bet its still another pile of bull chips. I prefer to be the captain of my own destiny, the architect of my own future, the decider of my own fate. (Okay, okay, just demonstrating that I can cross platitudes with the best of them.)

Fact is virtually all if not all such claims are unadulterated poppycock. Witness, for example, the multiplicity of internet-based employment search firms who claim — and the operative word here is "claim" — to employ "advanced algorithmic matching".

Now, I am not personally in the market for employment. I am, however, a marine industry consultant. And through the years, I've found it useful in generating leads to keep an eye out for small to businesses in the industry, who are looking to fill certain kinds of needs that might be more advantageously performed on an outsourced basis. Consequently, I have remained signed up a variety of web-based recruiting firms.

What I've concluded from such activity is that, if there is a firm which actually uses an "advanced matching algorithm", I have yet to find it. Without variation, the notices I receive from such firms are clearly the result of little more than a crude keyword search engine. Mention the term "engineering" in your resume or online profile, and receive notices about jobs in every form of engineering from genetic to nuclear. Mention "marine industry", and you will receive military-related job notices — occasionally even a notice for mercenaries.

Of course, it's not just job-search firms who over-represent the power of their sacred-cow algorithms. All manner of social media platforms do as well, from internet dating and matchmaking sites to smart shopping sites, right down to Facebook and LinkedIn (who are, perhaps, the most active propagandists on behalf of algorithmic intelligence). 

Not only do all of these bull chip artists over-represent the accuracy of their algorithms, they exhibit an almost religious devotion to algorithmic control.

And as with all religious fanatics, the proponents of, and apologists for such control do not book any evidence or argument to the contrary.

Yet, they stand ever ready to manipulate the very algorithms they point to as objective standards of affinities and popularity, all in a paroxysm of self-fulfilling prediction.

Algorithmic control of social media networks is worse than any nightmare George Orwell could have concocted...

The proponents of algorithmic control set affinity networking on its head by deciding they know better than you do what you are thinking, better than you do what you like and want, and better than you do what you should be reading and viewing.

LinkedIn, for instance, now openly proclaims that — notwithstanding your explicit elections as to whom you want to be connected to, and as to which authors you specifically want to follow — its demigod-like algorithm can discern your true intentions better than you can, by analyzing who and who are not your "strong connections". And then, acts on the purportedly "factual" data adduced by its algorithm to decide what you will see and what you. Never mind your explicit settings and personal elections... and never mind the obvious instances of egregious errors that we see the system making minute to minute, hour to hour, and day to day.

If we don't draw a line in the sand with respect to algorithmic thought control, we will end up like the Eloi of H. G. Wells's The Time Machine...

So, how do you resist? How do you re-assert your right to self-determination?

First, never accept that someone else — Facebook, LinkedIn, or any other social media platform — knows your wishes and intentions better than you do. Make the effort to stay in control of your social media experience by actively controlling and paying attention to your preference settings and controls. And to what is happening in your "news feed".

Second, take active steps to strengthen and maintain the connections you've created and which are valuable to you in your estimation. And moreover, take a couple of minutes each time you sign onto a social media platform to unsubscribe, hide, or block content that you don't want to see.

Third, take a few minutes weekly to like and share with your network of connections the content you judge to be of merit — whether you do so on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, or other social media platforms.

Last, but not least, join with me in telling the progenitors of social media mind

Take your algorithm and shove it!

 Author's Notes: If you have any doubt about what is happening in the area of algorithmic control, take a look at the following articles (two of which are by authors other than me):

"LinkedIn Or LinkedOut?"

"Down The Rabbit Hole That Is LinkedIn Notifications For Publishing"

"Arrogant Control Is Not Leadership... On Social Media or Anywhere Else"

If you've found this and would like to receive notifications of my writings on a regular basis, either connect with me, Phil Friedman, on LinkedIn, or click the [FOLLOW] button at the top of this page. As a writer-friend of mine says, you can always change your mind later.

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About me, Phil Friedman: With 30 some years background in the marine industry, I've worn numerous hats — as a yacht designer, boatbuilder, marine operations and business manager, marine industry consultant, marine marketing and communications specialist, yachting magazine writer and editor, yacht surveyor, and marine industry educator. I am also trained and experienced in interest-based negotiation and mediation. In a previous life, I taught logic and philosophy at university.

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The (reading-is-optional) pitch: As a professional writer, editor, university educator, and speaker, with more than 1,000 print and digital publications, I've recently launched an online course for enhancing your expository writing: learn2engage — With Confidence. My mission is to help writers and would-be writers improve the clarity of their thought and writing, master the logic of discussion, and strengthen their ability to deal confidently with criticism and disagreement. For more information contact [email protected]. 

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          Text Copyright ? 2015 by Phil Friedman — All Rights Reserved

    Images Credits: vectorolie, renjith krishnan, FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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