Marketplace For Content Algorithms

The content that makes up our feeds on centralized social networking platforms is controlled by unseen algorithms that have a huge impact on our life. Billions of people use social networks operated by a few megacorporations, but no one can see how the algorithm works or choose a more appropriate algorithm that matches their tastes. This point is true across YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Medium and, we believe, all other Web2 social platforms.

The curation of information is a sort of power that these companies hold over us. Their algorithms are designed and constantly improved for their profits rather than the content that could be most valuable to us, or healthiest for us. A related problem is that of ad curation. There is a balance between the amount of ads seen per user session, and irritation if too many ads are shown. Again, these algorithms are not public.

We have an idea to solve that: an algorithm marketplace. This lets users choose between different curation algorithms so that content in their UI can appear in a way that best suits a user’s preference. Should one algorithm prove not to work, it can then be replaced by another.

For example, a user could choose the "Sunshine & Rainbows" algorithm, and end up seeing a lot of happy pictures of puppies and rainbows and beautiful landscapes, instead of coming across a video of violence on a New York subway, as often happens now.