Elon Musk promises to make Twitter’s algorithm public!
Since Elon Musk bought Twitter in October 2022, he has been accused of modifying the algorithm to put forward his own tweets.
To prove that he doesn’t manipulate anything, the new owner of the bluebird platform announced on February 21, 2023 that he will make the algorithm public in the coming week.
Will this decision open a new chapter for Twitter or will it aggravate the current problems? This is what we will try to decipher…
What is the Twitter algorithm?
An algorithm is a set of instructions that programs follow to solve problems.
In the case of Twitter, the algorithm is used to select relevant tweets for each user and therefore probably consists of several criteria such as:
- the content of the messages,
- the language,
- time of publication,
- or even interactions with other users.
The publication by Twitter of its algorithms would allow us to better understand the functioning of the social network. However, it is not clear whether all the algorithms will be published or only some of them.
Why does Elon Musk want to make the algorithm public?
Elon Musk said he wanted to publish the source code so that users can better understand how the system works.
This announcement comes after several accusations that Musk manipulated the algorithm to highlight his tweets.
Although these suspicions are unfounded, the Tesla boss wants to give users more transparency about how Twitter works so they can understand how messages are ranked and displayed.
What will the consequences be?
The release of source code will undoubtedly have a significant impact on how Twitter works and how people use it.
While this change may be beneficial for some people who want to show their content to a wider audience, it may also have some undesirable consequences.
For example, it may create an inequality between those who know how to optimize their content to reach a wider audience and those who don’t know how to modify their content so that it is better perceived by the algorithm.
Moreover, this transparency could encourage certain political groups or special interests to take advantage of existing algorithms in order to reach a targeted audience and influence its perception on certain controversial topics.
In conclusion…
Despite all the possible concerns related to the release of the source code by Elon Musk, this decision will surely allow Twitter to enter a new era.
Users will have a unique chance to understand how the application really works. They will be able to increase their audience but also maybe completely revolutionize the way they communicate on the internet.
