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I sometimes hear people talking about the "infamous" Youtube algorithm that decides which videos to feature in trends or the local start page of Youtube.

Similarly, I've heard discussions about the ranking and matching algorithms of the dating app Tinder, which also seem to be shrouded in mystery, at least for people not directly involved in programming the app.

Those are just two examples, the principle is applicable to a wide range of similar apps/services.

There are obviously ways to influence an algorithm in one's favor, online marketing companies do this with rankings in Google searches, multi channel networks do this with Youtube channels, and Tinder allows users to buy subscriptions.

I, as a standard end user want to make sure I am using the the apps as efficiently as possible without using paid subscriptions, or monetary services in general, for that matter. In order to do this I feel like I need at least some understanding of the underlying algorithms of those apps.

What is good way to gather such information?

pat3d3r
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  • Are we talking about an end user who knows some basics about algorithms and is ready to put in some efforts to understand, or are we talking about an end user who wants to be spoon-fed an effortless answer ? I think that unfortunately the answer to your question is partly summarized in my question. – m.raynal Jul 06 '20 at 10:43
  • @m.raynal: I am actually looking forward to an answer which requires me to familiarize myself more with the topic. Because if there was such an effortless answer ready to be spoon-fed, I'd have probably come across it by now. – pat3d3r Jul 06 '20 at 10:47
  • I'd say then that you should first target a specific service (chances are that the algorithms used by two different services will be quite different), and to read about optimization method for this specific service. But you should remain conscious that the companies rarely release their algorithms publicly, to prevent people from exxploiting those too much, so it's a rather hard task. – m.raynal Jul 06 '20 at 10:59
  • Your best bet for figuring out how a certain platform's algorithm works is to experiment the heck out of it, and then hurry up and get your book or article published before they change it ;) – 500 - Internal Server Error Jul 06 '20 at 17:51
  • @500-InternalServerError: OK, this seems to be the most common advice, thanks! – pat3d3r Jul 10 '20 at 06:36

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