Group Presentation of my Producing Content for Social Media (Advanced) certification short course from the Caribbean School of Media and Communication (CARIMAC), University of the West Indies, Mona, Kingston, Jamaica.

1. ALGORITHMS
IN SOCIAL MEDIA

2. QUESTIONS
❏ What are the algorithms for Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, LinkedIn,
Snapchat, & Google +?
❏ What elements of their algorithms are
important to marketers?

3. what is a
social media algorithm?

4. ❏ It is a way of sorting posts in a users’
feed based on relevancy instead of
publish time.
❏ Social networks prioritize which
content a user sees in their feed first
by the likelihood that they will actually
want to see it.

5. Social Media Algorithms are either the best thing
since sliced bread or the bane of your existence.

6. why do social media
algorithms exist?

7. ❏ Algorithms exist to push brands to
pay for social ads.
❏ The theory is if they can’t reach their
audience organically, brands will turn
to ads instead, which earns money
for the social networks.

8. ❏ Before the switch to algorithms, most social media feeds
displayed posts in reverse chronological order. The newest
posts from accounts a user followed showed up first. This is
still an option on Facebook and Twitter.
❏ Freshness is still a part of the way content is displayed in feed.
Most people do not want to see Tweets from a week ago
when they first open up the app. The difference is that social
networks place more importance on showing you the newest
content from the accounts you engage with the most.

9. SOCIAL MEDIA TIMELINE

10. ALGORITHMS
2003

11. ORIGINS
❏ Out of 500 million LinkedIn
users, 50% are active
monthly.
❏ 40% use LinkedIn daily.
❏ 41% of millionaires use
LinkedIn.
❏ LinkedIn now has 3 million
active job listings on the
platform.
❏ LinkedIn is a social network for
professionals created by Reid
Hoffman et al.
❏ You can be a marketing exec at
a major company, an
entrepreneur or even a college
student looking to explore
future career options, it is for
anybody who is interested in
taking their professional life
more seriously by looking for
new opportunities to grow
their careers and to connect
with other professionals.
STATS

12. Linkedin wants to limit
the amount of cute cat
videos or puppy memes
out there that have
nothing to do with the
needs of their working
professional
demographic.
linkedin
To accomplish this goal,
LinkedIn has stipulated a
new process to determine
what gets seen in the
news feed.

13. ● When posts come in they are
organized by type, i.e. text,
graphic, link or video.
● In an effort to ensure that the
post’s content is relevant to a
group of working professionals,
it is released to a sample size
audience for testing.
● Based upon the sample
audience reaction, (liking,
commenting, or sharing) it is
then moved to a larger
audience or news feed.
As of now, LinkedIn
concedes that this is
largely a bit of a
manual process but
they intend to keep to
the concept of
filtering to ensure
that posts remain
relevant to working
professionals.

14. linkedin
The diagram here shows
how LinkedIn’s algorithm
works on the feed and the 4
stages of the content review
process.

15. Take a look at the sample
post to the right. At the
time of the screenshot, it
was two weeks old. But, it
had plenty of likes and
comments (i.e. LinkedIn
engagement signals). It was
also liked by someone in
their own network, and was
relevant to content in their
personal profile (such as
marketing). You cannot see
it in the screenshot to the
right, but this post was
ranked above another that
was up for less than a day.
As a result, the post kept showing up in
their newsfeed, exemplifying the
recirculation power of the LinkedIn
algorithm.

16. what should
marketers
consider?
❏ Fill out your personal profile and company
page and keep them updated.
❏ Encourage employees to indicate they work
at your company.
❏ Participate in LinkedIn Groups, or host your
own.
❏ Give and receive work recommendations.
❏ Make sure your profile is public, so more
people can find you, add you and see your
posts.
❏ Promote your LinkedIn profiles and
company pages on your website and in
other appropriate spaces by setting up
customized urls for bios, business cards,
brochures, email newsletters and email
signatures.
Understand the type of content
that LinkedIn craves.

17. ALGORITHMS
2004

18. ORIGINS
❏ By 2006, anyone over the
age of 13 with a valid email
address could join
Facebook.
❏ Today, Facebook is the
world's largest social
network, with more than 2.2
billion users worldwide as of
January 2018.
❏ Facebook is a social
networking site that makes
it easy for you to connect
and share with your family
and friends online.
❏ Originally designed for
college students, Facebook
was created in 2004 by
Mark Zuckerberg while he
was enrolled at Harvard
University.
STATS

19. facebook
The four key components of
algorithms are:
● Inventory (content available)
● Signals (considerations about
content)
● Predictions (considerations
about person)
● Overall Score
These four key algorithm factors
serve the sole purpose of providing
Facebook users with a better overall
experience.

20. let’s give a break down
Facebook’s aim, as with any social network, is to keep users engaged for
longer periods. They focus on different data points which helps to decide
what you see when you sign into your account.
● Average time spent on content
● Time of the posting
● Was the link shared by another person over messenger?
● Number of replies, comments, and likes
● Overall post engagement
● Publisher/brand post shared by a friend
● Type of posting
● How informative the post is

23. With the new algorithm there is more focus on
these three activities in order of preference:
● Comments — Posts that generate a lot
of (meaningful) comments and replies
will move up in the news feed.
● Shares — The second most important
ranking signal. Interactions with posts
shared publicly (by friends on a
timeline) or privately (via the
messenger) will cause those posts to
perform better.
● Reactions — The third important signal
for active engagement.
It is important to note that Facebook still values
personal posts more than those shared by
brands.
The bigger picture…
Facebook is encouraging users
to talk more to each other hence
reactions to posts from personal
accounts will be preferred to
posts made from pages.
However, if pages are evoking
the preferred reactions then
those posts will rise to the top of
the timeline.

24. what should
marketers
consider?
❏ Publish High Quality Content.
❏ Post Interaction Worthy
Content.
❏ Better Understand The Needs
Of The Audience.
❏ Avoid “Engagement Bait”.
❏ For example “tag a friend that
looks like this in the morning”
or “comment YES if you like
burritos!”
❏ Embrace Live Videos.
❏ Harness The Power Of Facebook
Group.

25. ALGORITHMS
2005

26. ORIGINS
❏ Youtube has 1.8 billion
logged-in users.
❏ Males are primarily watching
soccer or strategy games.
❏ Females are primarily
watching beauty videos.
❏ 50 million people on
YouTube are actively
creating content.
❏ Founded in 2005.
❏ YouTube is one of the most
popular video sites on the
web today.
❏ Millions of videos have been
uploaded and shared here,
ranging from movie trailers
to amateur videos of animals
- and everything in between.
STATS

27. The YouTube algorithm is the
computerized system that
determines which videos people
see when they are on the site.
Like the algorithms developed by
Facebook and LinkedIn sites, it is
all about showing users what they
want (or at least what the
algorithm thinks they want).
youtube
With over 400 hours of video
uploaded every minute, YouTube
needs a way to automate the
selection of videos that surface to
each user.

28. let’s give a break down
In the YouTube algorithm—their
“search and discovery
system”—will not only decide
which results visitors see when
they search on the site, but it also
determines which ones they will
be shown in other sections of the
site.
There are 6 key places the algorithm
impacts where your videos can
appear:
1. in search results
2. the suggested videos stream
3. on the home page
4. the trending stream
5. under the viewer’s subscriptions
6. through any notifications they
have set up.

29. Once upon a time...
Originally the only thing the YouTube algorithm paid attention to in
determining which videos would get a higher ranking than others was
the total number of times anyone clicked “play” on a video.
But views only showed the number of times a video player loaded,
rewarding creators whose videos got a lot of clicks—regardless of how
long the viewer watched. Creators started adding spammy descriptions
of thumbnails, generating clicks and getting higher rankings, but not
keeping viewers engaged.
So in 2012, YouTube changed their ranking algorithm to reward
engagement instead of clicks by dropping views in favor of watch
time—a more accurate measure of how engaging users find a video.

30. Today...
YouTube ranking algorithm focuses on how the audience interacts with
videos, using artificial intelligence that “learns from over 80 billion bits of
feedback from the audience daily to understand how to serve the right
videos to the right viewers at the right time.”
In broad terms, that audience feedback includes:
● What they do (and do not) watch.
● How much time they spend watching a video (watch time).
● How much time they spend watching videos during each visit
(session time).
● Likes, dislikes, and ‘not interested’ feedback.

31. In the words of Youtube...
“The goals of YouTube’s search and
discovery system are twofold: help viewers
find the videos they want to watch and
maximize long-term viewer engagement
and satisfaction.”

32. what should
marketers
consider?
❏ Create videos on a single topic.
❏ Watch time and sessions.
❏ Tweak your YouTube SEO by
optimizing your title and
description.
❏ Getting viewers to pick your
videos through creative and
eye-catching thumbnails.
❏ Get more loyal subscribers to
click your notification bell.
❏ Build on the power of playlists.
❏ Learn from Youtube analytics.

33. ALGORITHMS
2006

34. ORIGINS
❏ In 2017, Twitter doubled the
traditional 140-character
limit to 280 characters.
❏ As of the first quarter of
2018, Twitter averaged 336
million monthly active users.
❏ Twitter is an online news and
social networking site where
people communicate in short
messages called tweets.
❏ It is a form of microblogging (a
combination of blogging &
instant messaging).
❏ Jack Dorsey, then an undergrad
at New York University,
introduced the idea of an
individual using an SMS service
to communicate with a small
group.
STATS

35. “Our algorithm
changes on an almost daily to
weekly basis as the
Twitter timeline algorithm has
helped to increase Twitter’s key
metrics, it is likely that Twitter will
continue to test new ideas
with its timeline”
~ Deepak Rao
Product Manager (Twitter)
twitter

36. Engage More Than You Broadcast
Tweeting out links to your site
might get you a little more traffic,
but it is probably not doing much to
earn you engagement, retain
existing customers or build your
Twitter presence. When you look at
brands that drive a lot of
engagement and have built strong
communities on Twitter, they tend
to spend a lot of time replying to
incoming Tweets and sparking
conversations.
The trick is to stop treating
Twitter as a lead generation
tool, and more as a way to
connect and engage with your
audience.
That means:
● responding to customer
questions.
● resolving complaints.
● using Twitter Polls.
● asking questions.
twitter

37. what should
marketers
consider?
❏ Promote your tweets.
❏ Reply to mentions.
❏ Use hashtags strategically.
❏ Re-use your top posts.
❏ Experiment with posting times.
❏ Consider running Twitter Ads.
❏ Use Twitter Video.
❏ Re-share your top tweets.

38. ALGORITHMS
2010

39. ORIGINS
❏ As of October 2015, over 40
billion photos have been
uploaded to the service.
❏ Instagram (@instagram) is
the most-followed user on
Instagram (237 million
followers).
❏ Instagram is a photo and
video-sharing social
networking service owned
by Facebook, Inc.
❏ When it first launched in
2010, users could only post
photos through the app
and add filters without any
extra editing features.
STATS

40. instagram
Here’s how Instagram’s Algorithm
works:
● Instagram’s feed ranking is
powered by machine learning,
which is constantly adapting
and improving based on new
data.
● The algorithm was designed to
bring increased likes, comments
and engagement to Instagram
content as a whole.
There are 7 factors that determine
how your post will perform in the
Instagram algorithm.

41. instagram
● How much engagement your posts get.
● How long your content is viewed.
● Who engages with your account the most.
● What time of day you post.
● What type of content you post.
● Who searches for your account and how often.
● How often your posts are shared via direct messages.
The 7 Factors!

43. what should
marketers
consider?
❏ Clear vision and strategy.
❏ Consistent frequency.
❏ Familiarity with your audience.
❏ Maximize on content value.
❏ Create human content not
branded content.
❏ Measure results.

44. ALGORITHMS
2011

45. ORIGINS
❏ For the first quarter of
2018, Snapchat had 191
million daily active users .
❏ As of May 2016, Snapchat
generated 10 billion
mobile video views per
day
❏ Snapchat is both a
messaging platform and a
social network that was
created in 2011 by Evan
Spiegel.
❏ It exists only as a mobile
app.
❏ Snapchat has become all
the rage among teens and
young adults.
STATS

46. snapchat
Here’s how Snapchat’s Algorithm
works:
● Snapchat now sorts content
based on its importance and
relevance to each user.
● Prioritizing snaps and
discovering content that your
past activity indicates are most
valuable to you.
● Instead of organizing content
in chronological order or
placing what is considered
popular by the masses first,
Snapchat is now giving you a
more personalized experience.

47. snapchat
Now when you open the
Snapchat app, in addition to the
typical open-to-camera feature,
you get a navigation screen in the
form of a profile. There, you will
see the views of your recent Story,
of Snapchat’s Our Story, and of
your other group Stories. There,
you can also easily access Snap
Map.
“@Snapchat'snew#algorithmprioritizes
themostrelevantcontentforeachuser.
#socialexperience.”
~viaTwitter

48. Your new Snaps and chats are
located at the top of the Friends
tab. Closest friends’ snaps come
next, which are then followed by
Snaps from other less
interacted-with users.
Instead of one Snap playing after
another or you manually choosing
which Stories to view, a brief
preview screen in between Stories
show which friend’s story comes
next. You can use this preview
feature to either swipe down to exit
or swipe to the next preview.

49. What should
marketers
consider?
❏ Snapchat will now promote
popular, content-approved
stars to new audiences.
❏ In other words, users may see
content from a social media
star they do not currently
follow under Popular Story.
This is a good incentive for
anyone who wants to
monetize as a social media
influencer, as there is greater
promise for growth.

50. ALGORITHMS
2011

51. ORIGINS
❏ Today, there are 2.2 billion
Google+ user profiles, out of
which 440 million are active
monthly users.
did you know?
❏ Google+ was opened to a small
# of users to test in June 2011.
They gave those initial users
invitations to invite a small # of
their contacts. It was given an
overhaul in April 2012.
❏ Google + or Google Plus is a
social network from Google.
❏ To join Google+ you need a
Google account (such as for
accessing Gmail).
❏ Some of its tools and features
come from existing services
and platforms, such as the
Picasa photo storing and
sharing platform.
STATS

52. google+
Google Plus is unique because it functions as a
micro-blogging, video-conferencing and
community-based forum all at once.
Consequently, it offers multiple ways to share
your content with an interested audience.

53. How Google+ Differs From the Others
Video Chat (Hangouts)
One feature that Google+ offers that is
appealing from a business perspective
is video chats.
Streams
This allows you to tweak your Google+
streams so that you can view them
exactly the way you want to see them.
Searching​
Using Google+ and tying it to your
Google Profile, you will start to see
some rapid spikes in search traffic.

54. Other Google+ Features
❏ Circles are like categories for your connections, so that you can
share updates selectively with different groups.
❏ Huddle is an option for text message group chats.
❏ Instant upload is an option to automatically send pictures and
videos taken with a cell phone to a private photo album.
❏ Streams are similar to Facebook news updates but you can see
updates for particular circles rather than updates for everyone at
once.
❏ Sparks are topics that you want to discuss with others. The interface
is an adaptation of Google search.
❏ Google+ is integrated with other Google applications, such as Gmail,
Google Maps, Google Drive and Google Calendar.

55. let’s give a breakdown...
This platform was founded on
the principles of learning,
sharing, caring and growing as
a community. There is only one
feature of Google+ that
incorporates algorithm in how
posts appear, i.e.,
Communities.
The approach to timelines in
Communities brings the group
section of Google+ in line with how
users' timeline work.
Once enabled, posts will be sorted
according to relevance rather than
time of posting, although Google
has not revealed quite how
relevance will be determined.

56. Relevance is determined by mutual connections and shared
interactions These may fall into either description:
❏ Your mutual connections with people on Google products such
as Gmail.
❏ Interaction you have had with others on Google products.
❏ The links you have added to your profile.
❏ The connected accounts you have linked on your Google
Account.
❏ The people who are in your extended circles.
❏ Friends on external sites, when those friends have connected
their accounts on their Google+ profiles.

57. What should
marketers consider?
● Maximize on Circles as you
can separate your followers
into different groups so
when you are making an
announcement or just
posting your latest press
release, you can choose
who you want to share this
information with.
● Post Content
● Track the Content

58. CONCLUSION
In a nutshell, you need to understand social media algorithms for the following reasons:
❏ IMPACT: To ensure that your content creates the greatest impact possible.
❏ ROI: To ensure the time and effort spent publishing to these platforms has the greatest
return (ROI - return on investment).
❏ REPUTATION: To become a long-term trusted source of information.
❏ BROAD SOCIETAL IMPACT: Communicators need to keep up with social changes to be
able to make an impact.
❏ CONSISTENCY FREQUENCY: to be frequently active.
❏ AVOID ENGAGEMENT BAIT: posting a photo or making a post with little or no
conversation thread.

59. REFERENCES
https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-algorithms/
https://techcrunch.com/2016/09/06/ultimate-guide-to-the-news-feed/
https://www.statista.com/statistics/272014/global-social-networks-ranked-by-number-of-users/
https://www.omnicoreagency.com/digital-marketing-statistics-2018/
https://www.lifewire.com/what-is-linkedin-3486382
https://blog.hootsuite.com/how-the-linkedin-algorithm-works-hacks/
https://www.gcflearnfree.org/facebook101/what-is-facebook/1/
https://torquemag.io/2018/03/facebook-algorithm-change-2018/
https://mag.octoly.com/how-to-understand-the-youtube-algorithm-in-2018-c435136abb97
https://blog.hootsuite.com/how-the-youtube-algorithm-works/
https://sproutsocial.com/insights/twitter-algorithm/

60. https://medium.com/the-mission/how-the-instagram-algorithm-works-and-what-you-can-do-about-it-cca28
d0b2b0b
https://www.statista.com/statistics/545967/snapchat-app-dau/
https://www.lifewire.com/what-is-snapchat-3485908
https://www.advertisemint.com/snapchats-new-algorithm-prioritizes-the-most-relevant-content-for-each-us
er/
https://www.digitalunite.com/guides/social-networking-blogs/google-plus/what-google-plus
https://dustn.tv/social-media-statistics/#google-plus-stats
https://moz.com/blog/google-plus-correlations
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ajagrawal/2016/04/20/what-do-social-media-algorithms-mean-for-you/
REFERENCES

61. #PastaPeoples