#twitter algorithm

Twitter recently made public their recommendation algorithm on March 31st. Here are some snippets of code that popped out:

"Yo I'm looking through the Twitter open source code and wtf is this?!?!" — mewtru •ᴗ• (@trunarla) March 31, 2023

Twitter’s algorithm specifically labels whether the Tweet author is Elon Musk “author_is_elon” besides the Democrat, Republican and “Power User” labels — Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) March 31, 2023

"I wonder what my Twitter toxicity score would be 😂" — mewtru •ᴗ• (@trunarla) March 31, 2023

Part of Twitter’s algorithm specifically designates Jack Dorsey, Katy Perry, Stephen Curry and Barack Obama as “testing accounts” for getting random Tweets for testing, with an emphasis on Katy Perry in particular — Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) March 31, 2023

Some of these have been removed since but we will always have the receipts that they existed at one point or another

Last thing...

what am i, to the search function? what is my bleeding heart, my calloused hands, the sob in the gap between my ribs and my lungs, to the ticking of the reblog count?

i post art. i refresh my activity page every five minutes for three days, aching for engagement. a wordless reblog. a like from a bot. are you going to publish your writing, asks my coworker when I tell her that I am a poet. 

I am, I say. I send my finished writing to my friends. #timezone reblog. look at me. look at my art.

look at my content. i post content to be nestled in between memes and asks. at the wrong time, perhaps. with the wrong tags, perhaps. i post content, I-

engage with me.

what is content, without an audience? what is an artist, if not content? what, to the algorithm, is poetry not reblogged within x hours?

recommended for you: an artist’s pleading cry. another’s lifetime.

after all, what is content unmanaged? what is an artist not posting on twitter, on tumblr, on instagram, carefully relatable, polished humanity? are you not a content creator? are you not that which chokes your own art before it ever leaves your palms so it might be worth a share?

They will not show your work to new audiences unless you have enough big users backing it.

Their algorithms are designed to promote a big fish and small fry dynamic.

For smaller and hobbyist artists who arent in that top 1%. This is very bad.

Its not about people finding your work. Its about posturing yourself as the next big thing. Or being hyped up by the next big thing.

Twitter will not show your content to anyone unless someone already big likes your work, or if you're part of an established circle of users that are dedicated to a specific topic and you're well known to a LOT of people within it.

Social Proof: when you have the likes, the retweets, the big high following names. Twitter's algorithm will only then start showing your work to people outside of your following.

A lot of amazing artists and creators will NEVER see growth on these platforms bc they seek to create, not gain Social Proof.

Every day I'd see some new artists or content creators blow up in numbers regularly. They know who to engage with.

As an artist, these platforms are so unhealthy.

The reveal of twitters algorithm confirms it.

You get surpressed for having MORE FOLLOWING THAN FOLLOWERS .

Its directly saying we won't show your work to others unless more people want your attention than you want theirs.

Social Proof.

I'm not stating all of this because 'I wanna be the biggest artist ever.

I'm saying you will Never Get Any Exposure on twitter at all unless you get a bigger person to retweet you, you don't follow others , or you cater specifically to a group of people and never abandon them.

For example, twitter will promote you if you're a Genshin fan art account and always cater to that Topic on Twitter.

But if you're an individual with a variety of thoughts, feelings and ideas. Twitter will surpress that.

They want to surpress anything thats not gonna be super big or focused to make room for what they feel WILL do that.

When I was strictly using Instagram and twitter I genuinely thought my art was just too mid to ever appeal to anyone outside my friends and people already following me. I considered 20 notifications to be a VERY GOOD DAY for 2 years

So I took a chance and posted on Cara, all of my art within 4 hours got this response

With only 10 followers on Cara, i got more interest in my art than my twitter accounts with 590 followers ever did.

If you're a smaller artist, try focusing on tumblr again, try cara.app. you're so much better than a website built on social proof.

If you're willing to play twitter and instagram's game however! Great! Keep it up. Ill play their game too...but!