I'm not denying the undeniable fact that some people sometimes want to discover new things. I'm just saying that it's absolutely possible to have it done in a respectful manner. No one, ever, under any circumstances, likes or wants to be manipulated, be it overtly or by having their subconscious played with — period. Adding non-configurable extra anything into people's newsfeeds, be it recommended posts, ads, or "people you may know" blocks, is a crime against user-frendliness. Those who do want to discover new things, will simply open the "discover"/"explore" tab that contains a dedicated recommended content feed on their own. There is no need to nudge anyone to anything.
People aren't stupid if you don't build your UI/UX around the assumption that they are. They also like transparent, understandable algorithms. Chronological feed of (only) the people one follows is as transparent as it gets. A chronological feed with some recommendations mixed in is more opaque and confusing. An algorithmic feed is an epitome of opaqueness. Opaqueness naturally drives users away because it doesn't exactly instill confidence that their posts will reach their followers.
Another example: do you understand what the "see less often" button in Twitter does? No one does. No one likes cryptic algorithmic bullshit forced on them with no way to disable it.
Choice is very important.
> versus what they actually do.
Do manipulations work? Of course they do. Are people happy when they are manipulated? Of course they are not.
> Recommendations aren't advertisements, sites don't make money off them
They absolutely do. Recommendations aren't there because Twitter wants to be helpful — they'd be more user-respecting as I said above if that was the case. They're there because they drive engagement metrics up, and those in turn translate into someone's KPI.
People aren't stupid if you don't build your UI/UX around the assumption that they are. They also like transparent, understandable algorithms. Chronological feed of (only) the people one follows is as transparent as it gets. A chronological feed with some recommendations mixed in is more opaque and confusing. An algorithmic feed is an epitome of opaqueness. Opaqueness naturally drives users away because it doesn't exactly instill confidence that their posts will reach their followers.
Another example: do you understand what the "see less often" button in Twitter does? No one does. No one likes cryptic algorithmic bullshit forced on them with no way to disable it.
Choice is very important.
> versus what they actually do.
Do manipulations work? Of course they do. Are people happy when they are manipulated? Of course they are not.
> Recommendations aren't advertisements, sites don't make money off them
They absolutely do. Recommendations aren't there because Twitter wants to be helpful — they'd be more user-respecting as I said above if that was the case. They're there because they drive engagement metrics up, and those in turn translate into someone's KPI.