research-article

Understanding User Beliefs About Algorithmic Curation in the Facebook News Feed

Authors:

Rebecca GrayAuthors Info & Claims

CHI '15: Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Pages 173 - 182

https://doi.org/10.1145/2702123.2702174

Published: 18 April 2015 Publication History

Abstract

People are becoming increasingly reliant on online socio-technical systems that employ algorithmic curation to organize, select and present information. We wanted to understand how individuals make sense of the influence of algorithms, and how awareness of algorithmic curation may impact their interaction with these systems. We investigated user understanding of algorithmic curation in Facebook's News Feed, by analyzing open-ended responses to a survey question about whether respondents believe their News Feeds show them every post their Facebook Friends create. Responses included a wide range of beliefs and causal inferences, with different potential consequences for user behavior in the system. Because user behavior is both input for algorithms and constrained by them, these patterns of belief may have tangible consequences for the system as a whole.

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Index Terms

Understanding User Beliefs About Algorithmic Curation in the Facebook News Feed
1. Human-centered computing

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cover image ACM Conferences

CHI '15: Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

April 2015

4290 pages

ISBN:9781450331456

DOI:10.1145/2702123

General Chairs:
Bo Begole
Huawei, USA
,
Jinwoo Kim
Yonsei University, Korea
,
Program Chairs:
Kori Inkpen
Microsoft Research, USA
,
Woontack Woo
KAIST, Korea

Copyright © 2015 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than the author(s) must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected].

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Published: 18 April 2015

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CHI '15: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

April 18 - 23, 2015

Seoul, Republic of Korea

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CHI '15 Paper Acceptance Rate 486 of 2,120 submissions, 23%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 6,199 of 26,314 submissions, 24%

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https://doi.org/10.3280/SC2023-066006
Boulianne SHoffmann C(2024)Digital Inclusion Through Algorithmic Knowledge: Curated Flows of Civic and Political Information on InstagramMedia and Communication10.17645/mac.810212Online publication date: 24-Jun-2024
https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.8102
Obreja D(2024)When Stories Turn Institutional: How TikTok Users Legitimate the Algorithmic SensemakingSocial Media + Society10.1177/2056305123122411410:1Online publication date: 30-Jan-2024
https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051231224114
Cohen MKhavkin MMovsowitz Davidow DToch E(2024)ChatGPT in the public eye: Ethical principles and generative concerns in social media discussionsNew Media & Society10.1177/14614448241279034Online publication date: 21-Sep-2024
https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448241279034
Das RWong YJones RJackson P(2024)How do we speak about algorithms and algorithmic media futures? Using vignettes and scenarios in a citizen council on data-driven media personalisationNew Media & Society10.1177/14614448241232589Online publication date: 8-Mar-2024
https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448241232589
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https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565241258949
Baumer ETaylor ABrubaker JMcGee M(2024)Algorithmic SubjectivitiesACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction10.1145/366034431:3(1-34)Online publication date: 27-Apr-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3660344
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Delmonaco DMayworm SThach HGuberman JAugusta AHaimson O(2024)"What are you doing, TikTok?" : How Marginalized Social Media Users Perceive, Theorize, and "Prove" ShadowbanningProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36374318:CSCW1(1-39)Online publication date: 26-Apr-2024
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