From creators to users: How AI is shaping social media feeds

When social media established its foothold as a means of communication it transformed the way we interact and obtain information online Now more than two decades later artificial intelligence AI is transforming social mediaWhile the use of AI in content generation has often got the spotlight its wider applications and implications on social media creators and users are often hidden behind the charm of unique images and easytoproduce text facilitated by the technology According to Statista there are 517 billion social media users across the world in 2024 and this number is only expected to grow Since these platforms have become an integral part of our daytoday lives influencing our thoughts activities and other aspects of life it is important to understand how technology is shaping their functioning We speak to experts who provide insights on the use of AI in social mediaAI in social media algorithmsOne of the main pillars of social media platforms is the algorithm that dictates their operation Social media algorithms lend unique features to every platform and are also the link between content production and consumption They analyse user behaviour and preferences to deliver personalised content Most of these are powered by AIldquoSocial media algorithms use AI to provide a plethora of features starting with suggesting friends or accounts you would like to connect with to determining the kind of content that appears on a userrsquos feedrdquo explains Rashmi Jain Associate Professor Marketing and International Business K J Somaiya Institute of ManagementldquoIf a user engages or even spends a few extra seconds with a piece of content the algorithms capture it and AI capabilities use the information to gauge the interest of the user in the content and predict more pieces of content in that area AI is used to understand the users their interests their beliefs and preferences and then serve the content or marketing messages ads that are most suited to the user profilerdquo she addsAI in social media analyticsAlgorithms depend on data analysis From sentiment to trend analysis from user behaviour to response analysis AI is facilitating the comprehensive collection of data on social media platformsldquoAIpowered analytics on social media flourish on user data which includes time spent browsing likes shares comments new connections reels watched etc All this data is analysed to enhance the experience of the social media platforms but can have grave implicationsrdquo reveals JainWhat could be the potential harms we askldquoIt could lead to user surveillance data breaches profiling and discriminationrdquo she respondsldquoTake for instance AIbased personalisation algorithms predict which show product or type of news the user will be most interested in based on the userrsquos past behaviour The idea is to make the discovery of the desired fast and easy and to avoid the display of presumably uninterested things This creates a filter bubble or a personalisation bubble subjecting users to similar kinds of content and messages This gives rise to a larger social problem where people are subjected to content and posts similar to their opinions and beliefs making those beliefs even stronger and robbing people of the opportunity to get exposed to newer perspectivesrdquo she elaboratesldquoFrom a marketing perspective excessive remarketing based on AIpowered analytics or too much bombardment to a niche audience may have a boomerang effectrdquo she addsBoomerang effect refers to a situation where the response to a message is opposite to what was intendedAIpowered algorithms and analytics streamline the user experience but they also pose ethical dilemmas like privacy concerns and the creation of an echo chamberAI in social media content creationThe most common use of AI in social media is for content creation From image generation to video production generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Midjourney are helping content creators and brands to innovate While not everyone may use AIgenerated output it serves as a good starting pointRishi Jain a Chennaibased digital marketing and AI coach and cofounder of Digital Scholar explains ldquoWe utilize AI specifically ChatGPT to generate content and brainstorm ideas Although the initial outputs from ChatGPT sometimes require adjustments they provide a solid starting point This approach prevents creative blocks and reduces the need for extensive research One can then build upon the foundational ideas provided by ChatGPTrdquoldquoAdditionally tools like MidJourney can be used for image generation Traditionally explaining a visual concept to a designer could take hours Now we can input our ideas directly into the tool create the images ourselves and then pass these on to the designers to refine them Another application of AI is in video production For instance when we need to create videos showing different festivals across India on a map we input the necessary details into AI tools These tools generate the required visuals which can then be incorporated into larger video projectsrdquo he addsIn conclusion generative AI is a transformative technology that is currently shaping content creation on social mediaMeta AI ndash A boon or baneA recent development in the use of AI in social media is the introduction of Meta AI ndash an AI assistant that one can interact with on WhatsApp Instagram Messenger and Facebook Its popularity has soared high in India with Mark Zuckerberg revealing earlier this month that the country is the largest market for Meta AIApplicationsldquoMeta AI is creating more user convenience The users of Meta now need not leave the app to search for something generate an image video draft a message get content recommendations etcrdquo comments RashmiRishi states the following applications of Meta AIOne can get a lot of content creation ideas and recommendationsIt can look into our conversations and help us out in terms of understanding the emotions of the person For example you can ask Can you tell me what is the tone of this particular conversation and what should I infer from this This helps with better responses and enables making the right decisions at the right timeThe chatbot particularly the conversational chatbot on WhatsApp Instagram and Facebook is going to be crucial for people with different skills For example individuals who do not know how to write or understand English could use this platform to converse For instance my 65yearold mother who does not understand or write English could convey her thoughts in Hindi on these platforms and it could automatically be translated into EnglishThis has a lot of business applications as well If a website has all English content or if someones emails or messaging sequences are in English they could be shifted and changed to the language of the particular userWhile there are novel applications of this AIpowered assistant it doesnrsquot come without a costDownsideldquoSince Meta has access to the three largest messaging and social media platforms ie WhatsApp Facebook and Instagram they are very serious about the use of user data for personalisation preventing certain newscontent from reaching a few people discrimination Meta AI might not be sensitive to the type of content being served which may lead to the spreading of fake newsmisinformation Further there are privacy concerns generating misleading and fake contentrdquo states RashmildquoThe disadvantages of this feature will be primarily overdependence on AI leading to a drastic decrease in our thinking capabilities This could result in our kids and younger generation having difficulty making decisions and relying heavily on these tools They will probably be poor at grammar and have a tough time remembering spellings because they get corrected within milliseconds by these platforms There will be hardly any typing or creativity happening leading to impaired creativity and decisionmaking skills in the long runrdquo concludes RishiAlso Read Art through the eyes of AI Herersquos how artists and creative professionals are adopting AI in their work