Over the last weeks I've been thinking a lot of what sets Zoomers and Millennials apart, and I think it is that Zoomers deeply understand that their behavior is input to algorithms rather than just being passive consumers of algorithms. This makes them so much more powerful. 1/

The first step is to understand that your behavior online is not isolated but rather impacts how other people experience the internet.

The second step is to actively start tailoring engagement to directly shape the experience of large groups of other internet users.

Examples of this are the k-pop stans posting to racist hashtags, commenting things like "Here for the algo" on TikTop videos to boost engagement seeking algorithms, …

…and deleting TikTok videos asking folks to register to the Tr*mp rally (after they had been heavily boosted) to avoid getting above a visibility threshold.

What can us older people learn from this: Our engagement matters. We lost 2016 to the bots, and state actor driven inorganic engagement, through passive interaction on social media limited to our own interest bubbles.

To change this, and I do not say this lightly, we need to start using Facebook again. It's the only place to reach the convincible audience. If you see a political post you agree with: Like it, comment, don't just scroll over it.

It might seem like it makes no difference, but in aggregate these things matter. It could be the difference between your aunt seeing or not seeing that commercial. Doing it often enough, and things can move. There are more of us than the Russian bots.

If we learn just a little bit from the Zoomers about how to control the Matrix, I mean cheat Facebook, they stand no chance.