Give them no ground…who would entice thee!

Do not follow this link!

You have probably seen them many times. Your friend posts an interesting photograph, you comment on it and so it is passed on to your friends who may have similar interests. Alongside the photograph there is a link. Are you curious? The algorithms used by social media being like a chameleon metamorphose as frequently as you say ‘Like’, but they are exceptionally efficient. They identify things that attract your attention, and then post more and more of that sort of detritus on your board. They can also be their own downfall. On a number of visits here I have seen a friend’s comments on an interesting matter – perhaps more interesting to my friend than to me, but what does that matter? It may be a cute cat or dangly dog, a growling grizzly or worried walrus, a celestial satellite or manic moon, a reckless rendezvous or hilarious happening, whatever may catch their attention and may possibly catch yours, and there alongside the image is a teasing little link. You may not notice it at first, but when you do? Do you think there might be more like this behind it? It is easy to find out, is it not? After all your friend’s friend posted it?

A little way down your notice board, you see the same picture. That is the algorithm at work. You have in the past expressed some interest in this kind of image, perhaps you lingered on something like it for too long (you had a text from someone and stopped at that point to read it – that was the mistake. The pause is an expression of interest, just as in the great department stores which are rapidly disappearing, the shop-floor assistants were watching out for that little nod of the head which shows you might be persuaded to buy that which caused your head to nod or something like it, and they pounce, not as a lion on its prey but as a tender kitten saying: Wouldn’t you like me to stay with you for a while? as it purred serenely by your feet, so the algorithm is watching you, every move you make on the page, everything you watch and linger on….but let us get back to the point.

You see the same picture, but it has been posted not by your friend’s friend but by someone else, and there is a little link next to it. You scroll back up. The link is different. The original post came from a different person in both cases, and those different persons belong to non-intersecting groups of friends. What is going on? Will you not now follow the link?

If you are of the kind who will follow links, try this one, but even if you are not…who knows what wonders you might espy?