Wednesday Wildcard: Why I Feed the Algorithm

You may have noticed that I sometimes post pictures and short articles that say I am “feeding the algorithm” and this is why! Essentially, I am either too sick or too busy to create one.

I am the only member of staff at Wright English, so that means when I post a social media article it is me who writes it, proofreads it, creates the images, and posts it in on Facebook, Instagram, and wrightenglish.com. That takes more than a little time!

I have Ehlers Danlos Syndrome which is a connective tissue disorder. It causes a lot of pain, tiredness, migraines, digestive problems, and when I am really lucky my joints dislocate (pop out of where they should be!). On these days I often cannot teach, and I cannot sit at the pc long enough (or think enough) to create a social media post.

At some times of the year I am extremely busy teaching, advertising, updating my website, creating private materials for my students, and doing side projects such as editing books. Any article I write on a day like this is going to be as interesting as a dry sandwich. So, on these days, I am too tired, and I don’t post.

What does “feeding the algorithm” mean? Facebook, Instagram and Wright English all have related algorithms (computer programmes/artificial intelligence) that look at what I post, and decide if it is interesting enough to show to people on social media or search engines. If I do not post once every 24 hours, these algorithms decide I am not interesting enough to show people. That is why on a day when I am too unwell or too busy, I post a cute picture of an animal being fed! Cute pictures are always a welcome bonus, and they help to keep the algorithm on my side.

I hope this has answered any questions you might have about my social media posts.