Dear algorithm, please connect me with
You may have noticed a bunch of posts on the Threads app that start with:
Dear algorithm, please connect me with …
First, a screenshot collage of the meme. Then, a randomly curated list of people trying to make sense of this phenomena:
Does it really work? Or is it just for fun?
Some users are posting their best guesses and speculations about this Threads meme—
And, here’s a testimonial that it works (!)
Substack user Caitlin explains her observations about this meme:
Since the middle of the month, give or take, “Dear Algorithm” posts have overrun my otherwise eclectic “for you” feed on Threads. They’ve become the one constant in a content buffet controlled by a fickle, unfeeling algorithm.
Tiffany explains thoughtfully, on Threads:
The “Dear algorithm” meme taking over Threads shows us two things: 1. We’re collectively re-imagining our relationships to platforms in real time. We know our social experience is mediated, but we still want some control. 2. We, as a society, don’t really know what AI is or how it works! But we’re willing to put faith in it anyway, which has huge impacts in other areas of life.
IMHO, Meta Platforms, Inc. could exploit this meme
And, if Meta, or Instagram, or whoever is the management overseeing this Threads app, were opportunistic, they could very well turn this meme into a feature. For instance, hashtags were invented as a grassroots effort, actually, to be precise, Chris Messina in 2007 was the first to tweet one, and became a feature on Twitter, and later on, elsewhere.
Another thought. This could well be their version of wake words, like “Hey Siri” or “OK Google” or “Alexa.”
This “Dear algorithm” meme is diverging and diversify
And kinda like the TVA timeline on the Loki TV series, this meme is going in different directions, beyond the original “please connect me with” —
And, according to this WIRED article, there is nothing special about these posts —
follow me at threads.net/@djchuang
