Small input tweaks go a long way

While discussing BlueSky’s custom feeds and composable moderation with a friend, he wondered:

I will need to ponder whether it is viable at scale for millions of users to put in the effort to customize their feeds in a thoughtful way […]

They don’t have to - they only need one person they trust (or are willing to take at face value for a test) to create a feed, or to add a feed to a starter pack.

But more importantly, I realized, any customization someone can do, thoughtful or not, is an improvement. It introduces some delta on the perspective, even while they are within a group, instead of putting them into the monoculture dictated by which news items are more clickbaity and likely to bring ad revenue.

It is the same way with genetics: even small mutations can help diversify the perspective gene pool.

Published: 2024-08-23