The dial the company holds
- A small team sets a weightThe app applies it everywhereBillions of feeds change
Everything in this course runs on weights: how much a share counts, how strongly the loop follows you, how many buzzes to send. Someone sets those numbers. Not a law, not the users. A small team at the company, looking at test results. One changed line reaches billions of feeds within days.
- 2018an angry reaction worth 5 likes2020worth nothing
A real dial. In 2018 Facebook made a reaction worth five times a like, to get people talking to each other. Its own researchers later found the angry reaction was lifting posts that were false or nasty. In 2020 the company set the angry reaction's weight to zero. Same posts, same users. One number, and the feed changed.
- 500Angry reactions on the postWhat they add to the score after 2020nothing
The taps stayed. What they counted for did not. When the angry reaction's weight went to zero, what changed for a post that had many angry reactions?
It scored lower and reached fewer people.
Right. The angry taps were still there; they just stopped counting. A post that had been lifted by them dropped, and the people who would have seen it did not.Nothing. Users still tapped angry.
Not yet. Tapping is a signal; the weight says how much it counts. A signal times zero is zero, however many people tapped.It was deleted.
Not yet. Nothing was removed. The post stayed, and so did the reactions. Only the score's arithmetic changed, and with it the post's place in the list. - The companysets and sees the dialUserssee only the resultGovernmentssee what is reported
Who can move the dial? The company. Who can see it? Almost no one. Users see the result. Governments see what the company reports. Researchers see what they are allowed to. The weights are a trade secret, and the tests that set them are private. That is why leaks are how most of them became known.
Two posts: an angry claim that gets shared a lot but watched briefly, and a calm explainer that is rarely shared but watched to the end. Set the two weights and see which goes first.
The angry claim0.5 pointsThe calm explainer1 point1 · 1Shares times 1, time times 1: the angry claim scores 0.5, the calm explainer 1.0. The calm explainer goes first.
The angry claim1.3 pointsThe calm explainer4.6 points1 · 5Shares times 1, time times 5: the angry claim scores 1.3, the calm explainer 4.6. The calm explainer goes first.
The angry claim2.3 pointsThe calm explainer9.1 points1 · 10Shares times 1, time times 10: the angry claim scores 2.3, the calm explainer 9.1. The calm explainer goes first.
The angry claim1.7 pointsThe calm explainer1.2 points5 · 1Shares times 5, time times 1: the angry claim scores 1.7, the calm explainer 1.2. The angry claim goes first.
The angry claim2.5 pointsThe calm explainer4.8 points5 · 5Shares times 5, time times 5: the angry claim scores 2.5, the calm explainer 4.8. The calm explainer goes first.
The angry claim3.5 pointsThe calm explainer9.3 points5 · 10Shares times 5, time times 10: the angry claim scores 3.5, the calm explainer 9.3. The calm explainer goes first.
The angry claim3.2 pointsThe calm explainer1.4 points10 · 1Shares times 10, time times 1: the angry claim scores 3.2, the calm explainer 1.4. The angry claim goes first.
The angry claim4 pointsThe calm explainer5 points10 · 5Shares times 10, time times 5: the angry claim scores 4.0, the calm explainer 5.0. The calm explainer goes first.
The angry claim5 pointsThe calm explainer9.5 points10 · 10Shares times 10, time times 10: the angry claim scores 5.0, the calm explainer 9.5. The calm explainer goes first.
At which settings does the angry claim come first?
Never. The explainer has better numbers.
Not yet. Its time number is better and its share number worse. Set shares to 10 and time to 1, and the angry claim is on top at 3.2 to 1.4.Always. Angry posts always win.
Not yet. Move time watched to 5 or 10 and the calm explainer takes the top in every column. Angry wins in two frames of nine.When shares weigh far more than time.
Right. Only at shares 5 or 10 with time at 1. The angry claim's strength is shares, so it wins only when shares are nearly all of the score.Move both controls.
- A lawone feed not built on your dataThe appadds a switchMost usersnever touch it
Since 2024 a European Union law says the biggest apps must offer a feed that is not built from your personal data, such as newest first. Some apps added a switch. It is one dial, moved by a law rather than by a test. Most people never touch it. The default is still the scored feed.
In the leaked 2018 weights, how many points did sharing a post count, against 1 for a like?
Pick one. Nothing is scored.
A like1 point, 2018A reaction5 points, 2018A share30 points, 201830.Guesses run low because a share feels like a like with more effort. Thirty times: a share drops a post into another person's whole feed, and the weight said so. That is why lesson eight's angry posts, shared often, rose so far.Three things could change what a billion people see. Tap the one that can do it fastest.
Tap the part of the picture that answers it.
A new lawUsers changing their habitsOne weight changed inside the companyOne weight changed inside the company
Right. A weight is a number in a file. Changing it takes one team one afternoon, and every feed runs the new sum next time it loads.A new law
Not yet. A law takes years to write and pass, and then the company has months to comply. It moves the dial, slowly.Users changing their habits
Not yet. Habits change one person at a time, and the loop pushes back. A billion people changing what they pause on would take years.- A weight addedTested on some usersKept if minutes heldAnnounced
A video app announces it will now favour 'original content' in its feed. Using this lesson, what actually happened inside the company?
A weight was added or raised, tested, and rolled out. Which videos count as original is decided by a guess.
Right. There is no 'favour' button. There is a weight, and a guess about each video that the weight multiplies. Both were set by the company, and neither is public.A rule was passed that copied videos are banned.
Not yet. Banning is removal. Favouring is a score change: copied videos stay, and sink. The announcement is about the sort order, not the rulebook.Users voted for it.
Not yet. Users are tested, not asked. If original content won more minutes in a test, the weight stays. If it loses, the announcement is quietly followed by a smaller weight.
Lesson complete
The weights are chosen by a few people, and one change moves what billions of people see.