Spread, a social platform similar to PI.FYI, focuses on promoting meaningful human engagement by avoiding brands, bots, and ads. The founder, Rogers, aims to connect users with content that resonates with them, rather than maximizing time-on-site. While some experts, like Jonathan Stray from UC Berkeley, believe that algorithmic curation can be beneficial, others, like Rogers, argue that the tech industry’s focus on engagement may not always lead to socially desirable outcomes.
In response to concerns about algorithmic bias, Stray has launched the Prosocial Ranking Challenge, offering a $60,000 prize fund to develop feed-ranking algorithms that prioritize socially desirable outcomes. Meanwhile, some users are turning to chronological feeds and group messaging to escape engagement-driven algorithms on mainstream social media platforms.
Despite the appeal of ad-free and controlled environments in group chats, they can still harbor biases and echo chambers similar to algorithmic feeds. The pursuit of a perfect information feed remains an ongoing challenge.
