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Twitter's Recommendation Algorithm

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Re: Twitter's Recommendation Algorithm

#31

Post by jawns »

tric wrote: post #11

From https://github.com/twitter/the-algorithm/blob/7f90d0ca342b92... ( "author_is_elon", candidate => candidate .getOrElse(AuthorIdFeature, None).contains(candidate.getOrElse(DDGStatsElonFeature, 0L))), ( "author_is_power_user", candidate => candidate .getOrElse(AuthorIdFeature, None) .exists(candidate.getOrElse(DDGStatsVitsFeature, Set.empty[Long]).contains)), ( "author_is_democrat", candidate => candidate .getOrEls…

The author_is_elon flag doesn't surprise me, but the two political designators are somewhat shocking. I'd sure like to know what changes based on what Twitter knows about your political affiliation.

Re: Twitter's Recommendation Algorithm

#32

Post by GaryNumanVevo »

tric wrote: post #11

From https://github.com/twitter/the-algorithm/blob/7f90d0ca342b92... ( "author_is_elon", candidate => candidate .getOrElse(AuthorIdFeature, None).contains(candidate.getOrElse(DDGStatsElonFeature, 0L))), ( "author_is_power_user", candidate => candidate .getOrElse(AuthorIdFeature, None) .exists(candidate.getOrElse(DDGStatsVitsFeature, Set.empty[Long]).contains)), ( "author_is_democrat", candidate => candidate .getOrEls…

I wonder who's on the "VIT" (Very Important Tweeter) list?

Re: Twitter's Recommendation Algorithm

#33

Post by AlbertCory »

I haven't read the "algorithm" and this observation might be seriously out of date, but:

for Google Ads, you couldn't easily know what ads would be shown for a given query, without a whole lot of data that's not contained in any code: the experiment settings in the server, for one thing. And the user who's doing the query, for another.

An "experiment" could apply to 100% of the traffic, so it's not really an experiment anymore. And even if you think X has been put into production, there is still a "holdback" experiment, where some part of the traffic does not get X applied to it.

Re: Twitter's Recommendation Algorithm

#34

Post by infogulch »

anderspitman wrote: post #20

I'm not opposed to social media feeds having complex recommendation algorithms. I just wish they allowed you to opt in to a reverse chronological feed of only people you follow, like RSS.

Twitter has this now. The home page is split into two tabs: "For you", the algorithmic feed, and "Following", the reverse chronological feed of just who you follow.

Re: Twitter's Recommendation Algorithm

#35

Post by mgiannopoulos »

jonahbenton wrote: post #13
throwayyy479087 wrote: post #5

You gotta hand it to Elon - he actually did it.

LOL. My algorithm at twitter had been very simple- See tweets from people I followed. Don't see tweets from people I didn't follow. Trust people I follow in their retweets to signal something interesting. Unfollow unhelpful people. Once that algorithm was rendered impossible, I left twitter. Haven't missed it. Having someone say- here's the way we are going to promote something to you- doesn't make me inclined to acc…

This still exists as the Following tab and viewing it is a persistent option. You don’t need to see the algorithm feed (“For You”) ever.

Re: Twitter's Recommendation Algorithm

#37

Post by thieving_magpie »

addisonl wrote: post #22
throwayyy479087 wrote: post #5

You gotta hand it to Elon - he actually did it.

Did he? Considering the vast majority of the algorithm is waved away as “ML model”.

I can't pretend to know if this contains the actual ML model code but there is a second repo the-algorithm-ml: https://github.com/twitter/the-algorithm-ml

Re: Twitter's Recommendation Algorithm

#38

Post by rogerallen »

"Today, the For You timeline consists of 50% In-Network Tweets and 50% Out-of-Network Tweets on average, though this may vary from user to user."

I have spent significant effort creating a network and there you go choosing to ignore my efforts by putting in 50% of crap-I-don't-want-to-see.

That is why I despise your algorithm.

Re: Twitter's Recommendation Algorithm

#39

Post by rurp »

nebula8804 wrote: post #10
throwayyy479087 wrote: post #5

You gotta hand it to Elon - he actually did it.

[flagged]

Gets him a positive news cycle without much cost. It's hard to immediately say how interesting or useful this will be since there are probably a number of related systems and databases that aren't released.
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