Biblioteca Digital de VanguardiaGender stereotypes in TikTok and Instagram: a reverse engineering experiment for understanding the mechanisms of social network algorithms
In the context of immersion of digital content during the Covid-19 pandemic, the popularization of algorithmicmechanisms for curating information in everyday life was evident. This article presents the observationsof a reverse engineering experiment carried out at PUCRS (Brazil) in which evidence of...
| Autores principales: | , |
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| Formato: | Revistas |
| Lenguaje: | Español Inglés |
| Publicado: |
Universidad Politécnica Salesiana (Ecuador)
2022
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| Acceso en línea: | https://universitas.ups.edu.ec/index.php/universitas/article/view/6418 |
| _version_ | 1782340266650238976 |
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| author | Campos-Pellanda, Eduardo Bueno-Fernandes, Anna Cláudia |
| author_facet | Campos-Pellanda, Eduardo Bueno-Fernandes, Anna Cláudia |
| author_sort | Campos-Pellanda, Eduardo |
| collection | Revista |
| description | In the context of immersion of digital content during the Covid-19 pandemic, the popularization of algorithmicmechanisms for curating information in everyday life was evident. This article presents the observationsof a reverse engineering experiment carried out at PUCRS (Brazil) in which evidence of the reinforcement (ornot) of gender stereotypes in social networks was sought. For this, accounts were created on the TikTok and Instagram apps, one identified with male pronouns, the other with female pronouns. The study was divided into phases in which the levels of interaction with the content of the applications were changed so that it was possible to analyze the transformations in the recommended videos to identify clues to the mechanism used by the platform. Finally, it was possible to observe differences between the content suggested for each profile thatmay be related to gender stereotypes and differences in quality and popular topics in each application. It wasalso possible to perceive which actions seemed to have more interference in the recommendations and whichtype of content or interaction was prioritized for each network. This study does not intend to end the discussionson how social networks operate but to bring new questions and reflections on the parameters used by their logic and the possible positive and negative effects of these recommendations in different social contexts. |
| format | Revistas |
| id | oai:revistas.ups.edu.ec:article-6418 |
| institution | Universitas |
| language | Español Inglés |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publisher | Universidad Politécnica Salesiana (Ecuador) |
| record_format | ojs |
| spelling | oai:revistas.ups.edu.ec:article-64182022-10-12T12:51:10Z Gender stereotypes in TikTok and Instagram: a reverse engineering experiment for understanding the mechanisms of social network algorithms Estereotipos de género en TikTok e Instagram: un experimento de ingeniería inversa para entender los mecanismos de los algoritmos de las redes sociales Campos-Pellanda, Eduardo Bueno-Fernandes, Anna Cláudia Communication technology reverse engineering gender stereotypes algorithms TikTok Instagram Comunicación tecnología ingeniería inversa estereotipos de género algoritmos TikTok Instagram In the context of immersion of digital content during the Covid-19 pandemic, the popularization of algorithmicmechanisms for curating information in everyday life was evident. This article presents the observationsof a reverse engineering experiment carried out at PUCRS (Brazil) in which evidence of the reinforcement (ornot) of gender stereotypes in social networks was sought. For this, accounts were created on the TikTok and Instagram apps, one identified with male pronouns, the other with female pronouns. The study was divided into phases in which the levels of interaction with the content of the applications were changed so that it was possible to analyze the transformations in the recommended videos to identify clues to the mechanism used by the platform. Finally, it was possible to observe differences between the content suggested for each profile thatmay be related to gender stereotypes and differences in quality and popular topics in each application. It wasalso possible to perceive which actions seemed to have more interference in the recommendations and whichtype of content or interaction was prioritized for each network. This study does not intend to end the discussionson how social networks operate but to bring new questions and reflections on the parameters used by their logic and the possible positive and negative effects of these recommendations in different social contexts. En el contexto de la inmersión de los contenidos digitales durante la pandemia del Covid-19, se hizoevidente la popularización de los mecanismos algorítmicos de curaduría contenidos en la vida cotidiana.Este artículo presenta las observaciones de un experimento de ingeniería inversa realizado en la PUCRS (Brasil) en el que se buscó evidencia del refuerzo (o no) de los estereotipos de género en las redes sociales. Para ello, se crearon cuentas en las aplicaciones TikTok e Instagram, una identificada con pronombresmasculinos y otra con pronombres femeninos. El estudio se dividió en fases en las que se cambiaronlos niveles de interacción con el contenido de las aplicaciones, de manera que fue posible analizar lastransformaciones en los vídeos recomendados para identificar pistas del mecanismo utilizado por laplataforma. Por último, fue posible observar las diferencias entre los contenidos sugeridos para cadaperfil que pueden estar relacionadas con los estereotipos de género y las diferencias de calidad y temaspopulares en cada aplicación. También fue posible percibir qué acciones parecían tener más injerenciaen las recomendaciones y qué tipo de contenido o interacción se priorizaba para cada red. Este estudiono pretende acabar con las discusiones sobre el funcionamiento de las redes sociales, sino aportar nuevas preguntas y reflexiones sobre los parámetros utilizados por su lógica y los posibles efectos positivos ynegativos de estas recomendaciones en diferentes contextos sociales. Universidad Politécnica Salesiana (Ecuador) 2022-09-27 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion application/pdf application/pdf application/zip text/html https://universitas.ups.edu.ec/index.php/universitas/article/view/6418 10.17163/uni.n37.2022.10 Universitas; No. 37 (2022): (September 2022-February 2023). A proposed agenda for digital communication research after the covid-19 pandemic in Iberoamerica; 247-270 Universitas; Núm. 37 (2022): (septiembre 2022-febrero 2023). Una propuesta de agenda de la investigación en comunicación digital tras la pandemia de covid-19 en Iberoamérica; 247-270 1390-8634 1390-3837 10.17163/10.17163/uni.n37 spa eng https://universitas.ups.edu.ec/index.php/universitas/article/view/6418/5886 https://universitas.ups.edu.ec/index.php/universitas/article/view/6418/5887 https://universitas.ups.edu.ec/index.php/universitas/article/view/6418/5888 https://universitas.ups.edu.ec/index.php/universitas/article/view/6418/5889 Derechos de autor 2022 Universidad Politénica Salesiana http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0 |
| spellingShingle | Campos-Pellanda, Eduardo Bueno-Fernandes, Anna Cláudia Gender stereotypes in TikTok and Instagram: a reverse engineering experiment for understanding the mechanisms of social network algorithms |
| title | Gender stereotypes in TikTok and Instagram: a reverse engineering experiment for understanding the mechanisms of social network algorithms |
| title_full | Gender stereotypes in TikTok and Instagram: a reverse engineering experiment for understanding the mechanisms of social network algorithms |
| title_fullStr | Gender stereotypes in TikTok and Instagram: a reverse engineering experiment for understanding the mechanisms of social network algorithms |
| title_full_unstemmed | Gender stereotypes in TikTok and Instagram: a reverse engineering experiment for understanding the mechanisms of social network algorithms |
| title_short | Gender stereotypes in TikTok and Instagram: a reverse engineering experiment for understanding the mechanisms of social network algorithms |
| title_sort | gender stereotypes in tiktok and instagram: a reverse engineering experiment for understanding the mechanisms of social network algorithms |
| url | https://universitas.ups.edu.ec/index.php/universitas/article/view/6418 |