A Guide To Social Media Algorithms & How They Work

Social media algorithms influence how the data gets sorted based on predetermined rules. And these rules will govern how content gets sorted on the user's feed. A social media company in Singapore will tell you that the algorithms use machine learning and distributed data points to ensure that the content in a feed is focussed and relevant based on user interest, thereby encouraging user interaction.

This article is a guide to social media algorithms and how they function

How Does The YouTube Algorithm Work?

Owing to better viewing experiences and up-to-date video recommendations by consumers, YouTube changed its algorithm, prioritising content from channels that create content regularly.

1. YouTube Search

For deciding which videos to share in response to the users' queries, YouTube looks at the keywords, which is why brands are now hiring Singapore seo agency who offer YouTube seo services.

Using keywords similar to what a viewer will search for in the video's title, description and transcript boosts the relevancy score.

2. YouTube shorts

The relative watch time is more important for short videos, and absolute watch time is essential for long videos.

3. Up Next

All suggested videos are ranked based on machine learning's prediction of which videos viewers are will likely watch next.

4. Homepage

Videos get chosen based on how frequently viewers watch a channel or topic, how well similar videos interest similar viewers and the number of times each video is shown to a viewer on the platform.

How Does The Facebook Algorithm Work?

Facebook focuses on improving and personalising its platform based on user preferences. It was one of the first social media networks to implement a practical social media algorithm for its users. The algorithm determining the news feed for Facebook ads is now more smooth and more sophisticated. The added reaction buttons have also been contributing elements.

The algorithm can easily predict whether a user will like, share, comment or hide content with quite a high degree of certainty.

Let's take a look at Facebook's algorithm more closely. Every social media company in singapore will agree that the elements listed below heavily influence the Facebook algorithm:

1. Recency

The platforms now allow selected advertisers to target ads based on users' latest actions on Facebook.

2. Popularity

Facebook uses the data from the popularity signal to create a feed based on what a user is highly likely to enjoy.

3. Content

The platform encourages visually appealing and contextually helpful shared content. So content that has creative videos, high-quality images, or even graphic animation can improve its quality score and place it in more news feeds.

4. Relationship

The platform also considers whether or not a brand has an active audience, how frequently people engage with a brand's post, and other relevant brand-related elements.

How Does The Instagram Algorithm Work?

Instagram has become a popular platform for multiple businesses and brands.

The three important ranking factors of the Instagram algorithm are:

1. Relationship

Between the viewer and the author of the content. Therefore, brands must undertake active community management that involves responding to DMs and comments, thereby improving brand visibility on the platform.

Repeatedly interacting with specific accounts are more likely to show the content they (that account) post. 

2. Relevancy

The platform decides the relevance of every piece of content. This involves analysing where the content fits with trending topics and timeless factors - recent posts are considered more relevant than old ones.

3. Interest

Instagram also analyses the interests of its users. When the algorithm recognises that a user enjoys a specific content type or format, they serve the user with related content.

How Does The Twitter Algorithm Work?

The Twitter algorithm offers both real-time and algorithm-generated content. The multiple criteria of the Twitter algorithm include:

1. Activity

The number of followers a user has and how active their account is. The algorithm wants to know whether or not an account is active and engaged.

2. Engagement

How well the followers interact with your brand's tweets via comments, retweets, and save your content. This increases your account's relevancy score, with your tweets taking precedence over others in the feed.

The algorithm continues to tailor tweets in a user's feed based on their followers, interactions, and geographic locations.

3. Recency

Popular topics take precedence over popular daily or for a long time.

4. Media Type

Tweets having media (GIF, video, images or polls) relevant to the tweet's text get promoted to a much larger audience and generate more engagement.

How Does The TikTok Algorithm Work?

The factors that influence the TikTok algorithm include:

1. User Interactions

Like Instagram, even the TikTok platform puts serious importance on user interactions, considering key data signals such as:

• Liked videos
• Shared videos
• Created content
• Posted comments
• Not interested in flagged videos
• Creators you hide

2. Video Information

The platform also analyses video information to identify the subject matter and assess the ones you would be interested in by looking at details like:

• Captions for identifying keywords to help the algorithm understand what the content is about
• Hashtags for categorising the content and inform the algorithm what the video is about
• Audio like sounds or songs to identify trending audio content

3. Device and account settings

TikTok will also consider the user's device and account settings and uses the factors to optimise performance. Some settings the platform considers are:

• Device type
• Country setting
• Language preference

How Does The Pinterest Algorithm Work?

The Pinterest algorithm works on the following factors:

1. Domain Quality

The platform will asses the overall domain quality of your blog/website. The more pins from your blog or website are saved, clicked or interacted with - they will be a clear sign to Pinterest that your content is of high quality.

2. Pin Quality

Pin quality measures how popular or current a specific pin is, and people interacting with pins are satisfied users, so it is essential how users and followers interact and engage with various pins of their choice. If many users interact with a pin, it will indeed have a high quality.

3. Pinner Quality

Pinner quality is a score calculated by Pinterest that evaluates you or your brand as a pinner or content creator.

Apart from your pins, the pinner quality score will also include the content repinned from other users. The more people interact with your pins and profile, the higher will be your pinner score.

4. Topic Relevance

Topic relevance means that whenever a pin is published, Pinterest assigns it to a specific topic using a set of keywords. Pinterest SEO focuses on knowing how and when to use the right keywords and staying relevant. This helps distribute your pin to the target audience.

How Does The LinkedIn Algorithm Work?

LinkedIn prioritises valuable content over recent content, and the algorithm considers the accounts one has interacted with via comments, shares and reactions.

The elements that influence the LinkedIn algorithm:

1. The things you care about

The algorithm considers whether the conversation and content are relevant to the user by considering various signals like joining groups and following hashtags, peoples and pages.

2. Talking about

The platform's algorithm gives good conversations that are authentic and have a constructive back-and-forth more importance.

SEO Firm Singapore

Aii Develop is a leading seo and social media company in Singapore that aims to optimise your brand for digital growth and success digitally.

We help brands figure out the various complicated social media algorithms of every social media platform and take complete advantage of them.