Building connections through diversity

I’ve been thinking about how to do the personalized feed right, this has been on my mind, killing me, all month. Here’s the problem:

The personalized feed has one big chunk of algorithm I’m calling the “diversity” feed. Basically, I want you to be able to find new stuff created by people outside or on the very border of your interests, disciplines, culture, background, and beliefs.

Chance favors the connected mind. This can help you build those connections and better understand the world, that’s the goal.

The way that I’m doing this, at first, is like this: the algorithm collects all your posts on all your different platforms, tries to dissect the cultural topics of each post, adds/creates a counter, then ties that counter to your user.

So, more concretely: it’s collecting and understanding the hashtags you post across the internet. Hashtags are just the first step. The stories I’m trying to enable are something like this:

I found a group of developers, photographers, or actors in Omaha who support #YesAllWomen, and now we’re collaborating.

That’s a really simple story, it’s enough to build a stronger community.

The scary part is this: that same algorithm can affirm the worst ideas.

So, like, in the context of #YesAllWomen, MRA’s can better organize themselves. I need to serve you stuff from both sides of a topic, but, obviously, some cultural topics are just totally close-minded and inconsiderate. Is there a kind of close-mindedness algorithm? Maybe that’s the answer, something to try building, I don’t know. Or should I just stay out of it? Conversations are important, and being a neutral platform can help the bad ideas be squashed through a human calling out another human.

Doing this right will be the biggest challenge of my life.

Just one of many reasons I need to get funding and hire a diverse team.