Recently I downloaded the Amazon Kindle app onto my Android
phone. For this post I will be reviewing the app and a social media article
from the Slate site.
The article was accessed via the web and transferred to the
Kindle via the chrome extension software.
This is useful as it allows it to be read on the go and without Wi-Fi.
Kindle tries to emulate a book by making you swipe right to
flick between different pages. It took
me a while to get used to this, as on a portrait phone I am used to scrolling down.
The actual article was an interesting read ,as it
explores how Facebook developed their newsfeed. A series of algorithms are used
to display important items that are relevant to that person. Facebook are essentially
using people’s data to work out what news they want to see.
However, Facebook have encountered a few problems with their
formulaic approach. Five percent of
users choose to hide all the items on their feed even though they like what
they see. The developers have had to
manually input a safeguard for this phenomenon.
Overall it’s interesting to see how computers can predict a person’s
behavior yet sometimes the human element can catch them out and they have to
evolve their systems to adapt.
