Instagram - Tom Liberman

If you’re finding social media to be unpleasant then you probably want to improve your social media experience. I’m certainly in that category, or at least I was a few weeks back.

I think, for a lot of people, social media becomes a place to read about upsetting things. Maybe it’s your politics or religion. Maybe it’s something else. Whatever the cause, you’re reading a lot of things that upset you. That’s not a great place to be.

It’s your Social Media

If you want to improve your social media experience one of the first things to do is take control. Social media is largely fed to you based on computer algorithms. The things you investigate via search engines or simply articles you read are pitched to you in an endless loop.

The algorithm thinks, aha, Tom likes this. I’ll give him more. A lot of people think the algorithm is in control but it’s not. You’re in control. Take the reins. How? Simply start clicking on things you enjoy rather than things that upset you.

What do I like?

I started by clicking a few astronomy images that I found pleasing to the eye. Soon enough such images started appearing in my social media. This led to some wildlife images. I clicked on those. Then came pictures of amazing birds. The art of bonsai followed. Historical articles based on facts rather than nonsensical speculation began to pop up. Amazing rock formations led to geologic crystals. The delight seems endless.

It took less than a week and my social media feed now contains many things that make me smile. If you want to improve your social media experience, I’d suggest you follow my plan.

What I’m not Saying

I’m not saying social media is all wine and roses. I read a lot of articles looking for things to blog about and that leads me down some insane rabbit holes filled with frightening and delusional people. There’s a lot of crazy out there and they will never go away.

My Fifty-Percent Rule

It’s never going to be perfect. There will always be bad with the good and good with the bad. What I try to do is figure out if I’m enjoying myself more than I’m getting enraged by utter stupidity. If I’m enjoying myself the majority of the time, then I’ll keep at it. The same with people. If I find a person to be toxic the majority of the time, I’ll just stop doing things with that person as best I can.

I thought social media was toxic, enraging, bad for me. I suspect that’s why a lot of people simply turn away from it. Which is sad because it’s also filled with a lot wonderful things. Great friends, family, beauty.

Conclusion

Now, it’s not a perfect system. I still find things on social media upsetting. I still get angry when I read certain articles. That being said, I do find I notably enjoy my social media time more than I did just a few weeks ago.

The algorithms are fast to spot a new type of activity. If you want improve your social media experience, it’s actually pretty easy.

Tom Liberman

There’s an interesting story roiling the world of Social Media these days in that a photo posting website called Instagram is going to implement Hidden Likes in an attempt to encourage creativity, at least that is the thinking. Basically, in any Social Media platform people post something and other people Like it. With Hidden Likes, only the original poster will be able to see the number of Likes a particular missive gathers.

The CEO of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, is implementing the Hidden Likes strategy for a number of reasons. One of those is the following thought: if people are not posting things in attempt to garner Likes they might post more creative and interesting ideas rather than going for the sensational.

The first thing we must dismiss is the idea that Likes do not have an influence on what is posted. If the Hidden Likes update goes into effect it will certainly change what people post to some degree. I post fairly regularly and can tell you, first hand, there is a pleasure in getting more Likes and knowing that others are aware of the popularity of my original post. I often attempt to word my blogs in a way to generate attention. Now, that being said, I generally write about ideas and events that impassion me.

The number of Likes a post generates certainly indicates its popularity in the same way the number of sales of a product shows if there is market for that item. If posts of a certain style generate likes and other people see those likes, then those individuals certainly start making posts in a similar vein.

When a network has opinion shows where in the hosts express outrage and populist ideas it gets far better rating than a pure news channel. That’s the reality of this world. We look for the approval of others and imitate those who are successful in getting such praise. Likes are essentially ratings for all to see.

While Hidden Likes make it more difficult to determine which post gets the most attention, people will find a way to circumvent the new system. The competition to get the most Likes will continue.

Now, all that being said, the CEO of Instagram can implement any policy he wants. It’s his business model and perhaps this update will generate more Likes for the company which is expressed in the number of users on the platform. Perhaps it will drive people over to a competitor’s social media site. Perhaps it will increase creativity, there is no way to know for certain.

My final conclusion? I don’t really have one. It’s an interesting look into the Social Media platform and the power of Likes. You might want to ridicule them but they have power, that much I know.

One thing is sure, it’s generating publicity for Instagram, as seen in my post here. Perhaps that was the plan all along.

Tom Liberman

Tom Liberman

Tales of Corland

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