Instagram's algorithms + why I'm mute on the Queen's passing
a few rants that you will probably have opinions on
A few things on my mind this week. So let’s do a snappy snippet deal. Not so much informative as prompt for discussion.
Firstly, do you mind if I point you to my latest Wild episode in which Josh Szeps (ABC radio host, Joe Rogan regular…who “annihilated” Joe during a rambling frustrating chat about vaccines a few months back) has me on his Uncomfortable Conversations podcast to chat sugar, cannonau wine, class wars, woke-speak, ethics, the decline of innovation in wealthy countries, how men around the world behave on dating apps and the perils of looking like could be on an insurance ad. Josh is fun and generous and our chat is a noble wrestle that I thoroughly enjoyed:
1. What do I make of the algorithmic changes on Instagram?
You’ve no doubt noticed weird stuff happening in your IG feed. You no longer see certain friend’s posts any more. You get fed a whole lot more “suggested posts” from folk you’ve never heard of, and videos/reels of randoms dancing in their bathroom while lunging in close to the camera applying makeup (#sp). If you’re an influencer of whatever magnitude, you might have noticed your reach, likes and comments on posts is now a fraction of what it used to be. It’s a real thing; you’re not imagining it. On average, the public now only see 10% of the posts shared by accounts they follow.
There is talk that it is part of IG’s shadowblocking or shadowbanning practices, whereby IG goes in and specifically restricts certain accounts. In the past they’ve restricted accounts that use problematic hashtags, comment too fast and too much (they smell a bot!) and so on. But there is “talk” that this now extends to anyone who pushes a product - a book, a podcast, an online store, even a charity. A UK influencer I know says that any post using a professional picture of her face seems to be affected by…whatever is going on. If she shows a picture of the cover of her book (which has her face on it), the likes grind to a halt. Even when it is merely in situ. Noticed the same?
I can’t confirm nor deny this (although I did approach Meta and asked them direct; I got no answer), but can report any post I put up that refers to one of my projects (including my charities) gets about 5-10 per cent of the traction of my other posts, and of all posts, say, from earlier this year. Ditto anything that features my face in what could be “seen” as a promo shot.
A lot of this is apparently happening because IG is haemorrhaging followers to TikTok and they’re trying to adjust, something that was leaked yesterday.
My thoughts?
To a large extent a business like Instagram can do what they want. They are not a community service. We have to remember this. We can, of course, vote with our dollar or attention (although I acknowledge that the in-built addictive mechanisms of social media platforms make this argument not so straightforward).
We can lament where platforms like IG seem to be driving humanity (to a sensationalist, performative, distracted, materialist nadir?). And we can call to account the Metas of the world on monopolisation and those in-built addiction mechanisms, as well as on the responsibilities they have to ensure their platform does not enable hate speech etc. But we can’t really complain when they change their business model. There was no contract between them and us committing to nice tiles that followed a chronological, egalitarian format. Nor can we complain if we have built a business relying on a third-party platform that has mostly been free (although what price do you put on our data?). This is the risk we take.
A Google search, however, revealed there are things we can do to reduce our risk of being shadowbanned (don’t use the hashtags #brain #italiano or #pushups for instance (!?); here’s a full list of the banned tags, updated in August 2022). Perhaps my favourite de-shadowbanning tip is this: take a 48-hour break. It can be enough to reset the algorithms. Apparently. I have also noticed that some people are hiding their likes, I’m assuming because they don’t want people to see how (algorithmically) “unpopular” they’ve become.
I’ve done all the suggested fixes to reset the algorithms. But, alas, no banana. And so I’m just going to get philosophical. Which is always the best way to deal with a cul-de-sac. Some good things come to an end. And often because they needed to. I’m not going to quit IG. I’ll just let it die off naturally, as per its own self-eating DNA. Unless, of course, Meta jumps in with a fix…which I suspect it might just.**
2. What do I make of the Queen’s death?
I respect Queen Elizabeth from what I have learned about her work and character. She was clearly a funny, smart, dignified human. But I have not waded in on her passing out of respect for the impact that the monarchy and colonisation has had on indigenous peoples. This is more important right now than a celebration of her individual life and person.
Three more thoughts:
I think the ABC has got this prioritisation out of whack in their news coverage. Their blanket coverage is overkill, to the point of being inappropriate and insensitive. They have come under fire from a few commentators. Barrie Cassidy made a great point on Twitter:
I do think we need to fully address the legacy of colonisation and the parliamentary protocols around the passing of a member of the Royal Family (seriously, Parliament goes into mourning for two weeks?). But this should wait a few weeks out of respect for those who are mourning. We can do all of it, respectfully and kindly.
A referendum on a republic should not happen until the referendum for a First Nations Voice to Parliament passes. If you want to learn more about this, listen to this podcast:
One more suggestion:
Ditch the royal watching and listen to what indigenous communities are asking us to do. Check out what ClothingTheGaps and TheUluruStatement on IG are sharing/saying. Also CheekMedia featured a guest rant from my mate Holly (Jack River), which is worth a read.
Any other suggested sites to get info? The above is not comprehensive at all.
2. Call centres are destroying us
I’ve been on calls to various call centres (mostly on call waiting) for a total of 9.5 hours in the past two weeks. The experience, as we all know, is entirely dehumanising and not just because it tests patience.
It pits us against each other and specifically it pits the often powerful against far more marginalised groups and nations. Rich, vocal people who buy things and pay for services wind up with complaints that drive them to phone a call centre where they argue it out with some of the lowest paid, lowest skilled workers in the country, if not the world. This is not a fair battle. The discrepancy makes it very difficult for the job to get done. And it brings out the ugliness in all of us.
Who hasn’t sat on a call and got all ugly in the head with the attendant’s English? Who hasn’t found themselves turning truly vile as they spit out the details of the issue for the 203423492th time? The process drives us to it. Me, I have never been more of a bitch than I have been on “customer care” calls. I watch myself and I can’t recognise the person I become.
It’s all made worse by the fact that at every turn the experience is depersonalised. We don’t get the call attendant’s name (and they call us Madam or Sir, further widening the divide), they are often ordered to work to a script and very rarely given licence to solve the problem with us in an organic, collaborative way, and then…there’s the hangups, which mostly kick in after you’ve been on hold for hours, or when you’re just starting to explain the issue after finally getting through. There is never a callback. You have to start from scratch, which means you are burning with rage by the time someone eventually gets to you. At Qantas this has become a very real thing. I have experienced it four times.
Apparently there is also a thing called predictive hangup - where companies program the system so that customers get hung up on in peak times. “Predictive-hang up makes customers think that their calls are disconnected because of some technical issues or network problems on their end.” Which I’m guessing sees customers abort the whole process…the desired outcome, I guess.
It’s just horrible, isn’t it? And set up for failure. And for the fragmentation of society. If only we could actually talk, see each other’s faces! I once tried to send a gift to a really kind and helpful (Qantas) call operator recently; the system wouldn’t allow it. The whole thing exemplifies the worst of what we are being driven to by the system we have created.
One last observation here. I’ve noticed call operators now hang up very frequently at the slightest whiff of conflict. I said “bloody hell” when the screen on my computer crashed as I tried to bring up an email for the guy on the other end of the line. “We do not tolerate that language, M’am,” he said and hung up, never to be found again. I checked out online forums…this kind of “uber triggered” hang up has also become a thing. And I wonder if it’s not more about managing call volume (like predictive hang-upping) rather than a noble quest to combat abusive behaviour.
OK. I can never do a short listicle post. I thought I might this time, but alas.
Sarah xx
** Please note, I wrote this item before connecting that I have just joined forces with a new social media app - WeAre8 - and it could all be taken as a little “vested”. The two things are not unconnected, of course, but I’ll save a full rundown on this for the next post.
Instagram's algorithms + why I'm mute on the Queen's passing
Hi Sarah,
I think the Queen's death has been a watershed moment and a rare occasion that colonialism and its impacts have been in the global spotlight, so I actually think it's critical for people who consider themselves allies to be sharing the many thoughtful and important perspectives that challenge the dominant media narratives of the Queen’s legacy, however angry and uncomfortable they might make other people feel.
I’ve been really disappointed (though not entirely surprised) by the silence of most of my non-monarchist white friends and many prominent people in the public eye over the past week or so and I imagine that while some people might be taking quiet time to educate and inform themselves, I think many others are scared about upsetting or offending their pro-royal friends, starting arguments or losing followers. While most of the media is consumed with fawning and often absurdly over-the-top coverage of the Queen’s death, it is in no way too soon to be sharing alternative views, which many groups impacted by colonisation have been trying to draw attention to for decades, if not centuries.
I know that I’ve upset a lot of my friends with some of the things I’ve shared on social media this week, but to be honest, I don’t care – I do care about the friends who’ve been directly impacted by colonisation, however (which is an ongoing project and not just something we can look at from an historical perspective) and I know that for most of them, silence is complicity, so I would really urge people to use this time to get educated and then speak out.
Here are some of the articles I’ve come across this week that are well worth a read and share:
This Is a Britain that has lost its Queen - and the luxury of denial about its past | Afua Hirsch
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/sep/13/queen-reign-death-elizabeth-ii-uk-minorities-british-empire
Don’t ask me to give the Queen a minute’s silence, ask me for the truth about British colonialism | Lidia Thorpe
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/sep/14/dont-ask-me-to-give-the-queen-a-minutes-silence-ask-me-for-my-truth-about-british-colonialism
Queen Elizabeth Is Dead, But Her Bloody Legacy Lives On
https://truthout.org/articles/queen-elizabeth-is-dead-but-the-bloody-legacy-of-colonialism-lives-on/
Amid Tributes to Queen Elizabeth, Deadly Legacy of British Colonialism Cannot Be Ignored
https://www.democracynow.org/2022/9/9/uk_queen_elizabeth_ii_dies_96
Govt slammed for declaring Day of Mourning after ignoring similar First Nations calls for years | SBS
https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/govt-slammed-for-declaring-day-of-mourning-after-ignoring-similar-first-nations-calls-for-years/fw0jfuirf
And a couple of links pointing out the undeniable links between colonialism, capitalism and the climate crisis:
Yes, Colonialism Caused Climate Change, IPCC Reports
https://atmos.earth/ipcc-report-colonialism-climate-change/
Queen Elizabeth’s passing doesn’t erase the crown’s most enduring legacy: climate change
https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/Queen-Elizabeth-climate-change-17436936.php
This is a great 13 min TEDx talk to share with anyone who is new to the concept of decolonisation:
Decolonisation Is For Everyone: TEDx talk by Nikki Sanchez
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QP9x1NnCWNY
In terms of people and accounts to follow to learn more about Indigenous perspectives on these and other issues (including the contentious issue of a Voice to Parliament), I would really recommend following:
IndigenousX
https://indigenousx.com.au
Blackfulla Revolution
https://www.facebook.com/ourcountryourchoice
Black Anarchist
https://www.facebook.com/blakAnarchist
Decolonize Myself: A First Nations Perspective
https://www.facebook.com/decolonizemyself/
The Decolonial Atlas
https://www.facebook.com/decolonialatlas/
Rise Indigenous
https://www.instagram.com/riseindigenous/
A Growing Culture
https://www.instagram.com/agrowingculture/
Senator Lidia Thorpe
https://www.facebook.com/SenatorThorpe
Jamie Graham-Blair
https://www.instagram.com/muka_nita/
And I also highly recommend that people take some time to listen to the excellent Frontier War Stories podcast series, hosted by Boe Spearim:
https://boespearim.podbean.com
Erfan Daliri shared an excellent post on the public outpouring of grief over the Queen's death on their FB page the other day (I can't work out how to share the post itself, but if you go to their page, you should be able to scroll down and find it):
https://www.facebook.com/mr.erfan.daliri
This is the text:
Dear Friends, the First Nations Peoples of the stolen land that we all sought refuge on and built our comfortable lives upon are watching you today. It is not only land that can be colonised, but minds as well.
If you love the Queen, say a quiet prayer for her soul. There is no need to celebrate the life of someone who represents dispossession, disenfranchisement and stolen land, wealth and children to so many millions all over the world.
For those amongst my friends and followers who sought to gain favour among your colleagues and community by posting a commemorative post about the queen today, I ask you to reflect on why you did that.
Who did you think you were pleasing, and why is it so important to you to please lovers of the Queen? How is it that we have built our lives on Aboriginal land and some of us are so careless and disrespectful of the hearts and feelings of First Nations People who still are trying to recover from the impacts of colonisation?
Did you post when Aboriginal teenager Kumanjayi Walker was murdered by police officer Zachary Rolfe?
Did you post when Aishwarya Venkatachalam was pushed to suicide because of workplace racism?
Did you post when asylum seekers were locked into motels for almost a decade without hope or a chance to see their children grow?
Colonisation is something that happens to the brain as well as the land, and the images below represent the white supremacy that has ravaged our planet for 500 years now.
It's time to end racism and it starts by understanding why we don't celebrate colonisers and supporters of colonisation.
Creating a united, just and cohesive society takes more than empty words, feigned empathy followed by commemorating colonisers.
Building unity, working toward justice, advocating for equity and striving for peace and harmony mean we have to actually try to re-evaluate our own thinking, worldview and ways of being, and at least try to do better. It's about time that we recognise that peace requires unity, and unity first requires justice...
This FB post by by Priyamvada Gopal is also excellent (https://www.facebook.com/priyamvada.gopal)
Some things need to be said in the midst of left-ish cliché spouting re Elizabeth II R's passing.
1. You *cannot* separate the queen as 'individual' from 'monarchy'. We have no access to the 'individual'. Our only understanding of her, our only lens through which to view her was and is the institution she represented very ably. Lauding that very ability and the 'duty' that we should apparently celebrate separately from the monarchy and the Crown makes no sense. I repeat: you have NO knowledge of her as a person, you cannot separate her from the institution ('whatever you think about the monarchy') and, frankly, I doubt she would wish you to. Her 'duty' was to embody the Crown. If you think she did it well, then it's UTTERLY INCOHERENT to separate her 'duty' and what the Crown does
2. No, you cannot 'mourn the queen but not her empire'. Again, this is someone who came to the throne when India was independent but most other British colonies were not. 1952 was the year of a BRUTAL counter-insurgency in Kenya where she received the news of her father's passing. You cannot, again, conveniently separate her from the horrific violence being enacted in the name of the British Crown even at the very moment she ascended the throne.
3. No, she didn't oversee a kindly decolonisation initiated by Britain any more than Britain should be known for abolition rather than enslavement. She was head of state as Britain was forced, colony by colony, to abandon the imperial project though not without tremendous violence in many places including Malaya, Kenya and Cyprus. (Ireland too, though differently). On the contrary, she embraced the face-saving fudge of the 'Commonwealth', made it her personal passion (to the extent that the Crown can be 'personal') and ensured her son would remain head of this bonkers organisation, full of postcolonial elites, kindly maternal and paternal figures respectively.
4. The enormous private wealth of her family and the enormous assets of the Crown cannot be separated from the projects of enslavement and colonisation. Period. Start an inquiry into how this wealth came to be and it will become apparent. Yes, both the Crown and individual monarchs have benefitted from enslavement and expropriation.
5. Please stop saying 'whatever you think about the monarchy' followed by vapid clichés about duty and grace. The monarchy represents the right of the wealthy and privileged, a small number, to rule. That said, those who announce themselves republicans should acknowledge that it is perfectly possibly, indeed currently normal, to have elected heads of state and heads of government while maintaining precisely as unequal and grotesque a system as any monarchy. Abolish monarchy by all means, but that is meaningless without abolishing billionaires and trillionares and the plutocracy that rules across the world, whether formally monarchist or not.
Love your stuff, Sarah and it always prompts a response that takes me days to formulate and therefore I never respond. For whatever reason this one seemed to flow right off the fingers. Here goes: If we can't say it now, it's coming in the near future, Social Media will be/is to mental illness what fast food and soda are to diabetes and obesity. In my humble opinion, we, the consumers must take control of the economics in this world. We cannot continue to let companies, politicians and the most powerful few dictate who and what we are has a human race. This also speaks to your comments about the Queen (RIP) and Jack River's post. If we demand better and stop putting money in "their" pockets (btw, I see my own guilt and it pains/motivates me) they will have to change but as long as we make our livings from anything that supports dog shit directly or indirectly or we continue to support "them" we are part of the problem. Consumers have all of the power but our uptight, anxious, convenience first society can't stop consuming crap because it's the only accessible solution to a complex and layered human predicament. We have to move away from self indulgence and start demanding better from our corporations and governments, but mostly from ourselves. Most people I know are fat and happy as you mentioned in previous posts, they do "their part" which is socially acceptable, but mostly talk, no one is willing to sacrifice anything for the cause, primarily the personal ego. Until the influential do so and lead the masses, we are where we are, posting "cool" and provocative stuff on SM and preaching from the pulpit. We have to dig deep and recognize just how conditioned and influenced we are by all of the nonsense (corporations, religions and governments, just to name a few) and begin to sacrificially help each other! I know, I am committing one of my own personal pet peeves and over simplifying a very complex problem but I am not offering an oversimplified solution. I am talking about reversing hundreds of years of conditioning, investigating ourselves at the deepest levels and being honest with what we find, it's okay, we all have stuff and we need to support each other in this instead of judging each other, competing against each other and acting like it's everyone else's fault. Be the change right? Rumi says, "I thought I was clever and would change the world, then I became wise and realized I would change myself." Self investigation and working together to find real solutions, it's available in ancient Philosophy and wisdom, and more and more science reveals both how little we know and more about what we do know but if it pays the bills or makes life, "more convenient" no one cares. We just keep the money train going at the expense of our souls. We are so focused on self and our personal brand, our personal "causes" and opinions we are too sensitive to have open and honest conversations. Manty will say it, love is the answer but none of us are willing to really love, unconditionally! Be honest, we only love when it "makes sense" for us or it's safe or there is a payoff of sorts. THAT'S NOT UNCONDITIONAL! I know, many of your readers are uncomfortable with this and therein lies the problem. We are too comfortable to love, really love each other, we are too comfortable to be uncomfortable!