Re:Doctorow: Social Quitting
by dibt on Monday January 09, 2023 @04:38AM
(#34308497)
> So the argument here is that if you have few followers or loads of followers then the ratio of views to likes don't matter
The ratio does matter. The person above used Elon Musk. The second most followed account on twitter, so it's not a great example, but does stick to the range I expect. I doubt his ratio would get below .05% often.
More (active) followers > more views > higher chance of likes
Twitter uses likes (& replies, rewteets, etc) as a signal to give it more visibility in your follower's feed. More visibility, means more likes. It's a feedback loop.
It makes sense when you consider there's more tweets being produced than time to consume them.
> but if you're in the middle with 480k it's very important and shows that you're out of touch if you only get 1%?
I've noticed the ratio rarely goes above 1% for any account. Someone popular, regardless of follower count, will consistently have between .05% and 1% like-to-views ratio. I've seen viral tweets get above above 1%, but not more than 2%.
Another wrinkle is that followers will turn on notifications for popular accounts, which shortcuts the algo.
If it DOES go below 0.05% frequently, it means they aren't regularly producing engaging tweets. It's more more noteworthy for a 480K follower account because they have so many chances to get views if only they had something worth viewing.
I don't know if you actually use Twitter. The feed isn't meant to be like an RSS feed. You are meant to see what is happening in the moment. It's fine if Cory treats it as an RSS feed, but most of his 480k followers aren't seeing his stuff. The few that do see it, don't think it's worth engaging with it, so it dies there.
Musk's ratio on that tweet is within the ranges I've noticed, but there are many other signals to pay attention to on his tweets that are missing from Cory's.
This ratio is stronger on private accounts, since views aren't diluted with non-followers. I see one with 773k followers frequently get a ratio above 1%.
> If only 1% of users at any level are really engaging with the platform then its fair to say the platform has a problem.
I think this is just the nature of the beast. I hardly ever like a tweet. I suspect the mechanics of the algo are involved. Like it might dampen popularity, or not promote, a tweet if the ratio goes above 1%.
The ratio does matter. The person above used Elon Musk. The second most followed account on twitter, so it's not a great example, but does stick to the range I expect. I doubt his ratio would get below .05% often.
More (active) followers > more views > higher chance of likes
Twitter uses likes (& replies, rewteets, etc) as a signal to give it more visibility in your follower's feed. More visibility, means more likes. It's a feedback loop.
It makes sense when you consider there's more tweets being produced than time to consume them.
> but if you're in the middle with 480k it's very important and shows that you're out of touch if you only get 1%?
I've noticed the ratio rarely goes above 1% for any account. Someone popular, regardless of follower count, will consistently have between .05% and 1% like-to-views ratio. I've seen viral tweets get above above 1%, but not more than 2%.
Another wrinkle is that followers will turn on notifications for popular accounts, which shortcuts the algo.
If it DOES go below 0.05% frequently, it means they aren't regularly producing engaging tweets. It's more more noteworthy for a 480K follower account because they have so many chances to get views if only they had something worth viewing.
I don't know if you actually use Twitter. The feed isn't meant to be like an RSS feed. You are meant to see what is happening in the moment. It's fine if Cory treats it as an RSS feed, but most of his 480k followers aren't seeing his stuff. The few that do see it, don't think it's worth engaging with it, so it dies there.
Musk's ratio on that tweet is within the ranges I've noticed, but there are many other signals to pay attention to on his tweets that are missing from Cory's.
This ratio is stronger on private accounts, since views aren't diluted with non-followers. I see one with 773k followers frequently get a ratio above 1%.
> If only 1% of users at any level are really engaging with the platform then its fair to say the platform has a problem.
I think this is just the nature of the beast. I hardly ever like a tweet. I suspect the mechanics of the algo are involved. Like it might dampen popularity, or not promote, a tweet if the ratio goes above 1%.