In the article, Writing for Algorithmic Audiences, John Gallagher writes, “social media companies use algorithms to structure what users see in their newsfeeds. Algorithms frequently order and circulate web-writing, such as what stories are “trending” on various social media platforms. Alternatively, the online retail giant Amazon uses an algorithm to determine what products to show…
Overall, I think my view of algorithms as audience has been negative in the past. I definitely agree with Ashleigh that it can be frustrating to change your writing to appeal to the algorithms that will ultimately help your real audience find your work, and I think it can be frustrating to be the one…
Much like Jade, the only experience that I know I’ve had with algorithms is through social media, specifically Instagram and the way it organizes it’s timeline. As Jade mentioned in her article, it’s not necessarily the greatest. Even though these algorithms can have negative views in the eyes of the audience, they are very helpful…
My sister has a food blog and an Instagram related to it that I thought of as I read this article. I don’t use Instagram regularly, or check any blogs other than hers—neither do my parents, who were, when they first looked at the Instagram she set up for them to follow her and like all…
Before reading Writing for Algorithmic Audiences, I knew very little about algorithms. My knowledge was pretty much limited to the fact that they’re some sort of code that determines what items show up in the “you might like these” bar at the bottom of my screen when I am online shopping. I found it interesting that algorithms…
When I read the title, “Writing for Algorithmic Audiences,” I got scared. Math? I thought. I chose this major to get away from math. Why is there math? But I should have known Dr. Lang wouldn’t subject me to that kind of thinking. The phrase algorithmic audience is used “to capture the tension between human…
Is it more important to consider the personal audience (those who consume), or the algorithmic audience when publishing digitally? How is each audience important in dictating the final product? If the algorithmic audience becomes the more dominant and deciding audience in terms of digital publishing, will the need for writers fall as computers learn/are programed…
Before reading this article, I had a somewhat negative view of algorithms. For me personally, when I think about algorithms, I think of how awful everyone thinks Instagram’s is. While the algorithms mentioned in Gallagher’s article are obviously very helpful and useful for marketing, I do think that this is something a lot of people…
In the current digital age, writer and producer roles are no longer separate. As John Gallagher says in “Writing for Algorithmic Audiences,” writers are now acting as content producers, “circulating content on various social media platforms, monitoring website analytics, curating metadata, managing comments, and recirculating older writing to new venues” (25). As such, it’s never…
How can we, as writers/publishers, start thinking about audiences not only as people we want to read/view our text, but also as the end to steps of algorithmic processes (or, how do we break down how our audience sees our work into a more straightforward-forward way? I’m not sure if this questions makes sense…) Is…