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How the feeds decide — from their own papers.
I read what TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and X have actually published about their feeds — the papers, the official pages, the code — and wrote down what it says, in plain words. Every claim is tagged, so you know what's confirmed and what's my deduction.
How to read my tags: confirmedthe source says it · inferredmy deduction from what's confirmed · speculateda guess, and I say so
How social media algorithms work: the five stages the platforms have published
I read what TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, X, Facebook and LinkedIn have put in writing about how their feeds pick posts. Here it is, stage by stage, with every claim tagged by how sure I can be.
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12 algorithm myths, checked against what the platforms actually published
Everyone has a theory about the feed. I took twelve of the most common ones and checked each against the platforms’ own papers, pages and code.
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How the TikTok algorithm works: what TikTok and ByteDance actually published
I read TikTok’s own explainers and ByteDance’s Monolith paper line by line. Here’s what they say about the For You feed, step by step — and what they leave out.
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How the Instagram algorithm works: one app, many rankings
I read Instagram's and Meta's own explainers and engineering posts, line by line. Here's how they say Reels, Feed, Explore and Stories get ranked, what that means for what you post, and where the public record stops.
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How the YouTube algorithm works: I read the 2016 paper and what YouTube has said since
Google's 2016 paper laid out YouTube's two-step recommender, and YouTube's own pages, Shorts included, have filled some gaps since. I read them line by line: here's what's confirmed, what's inferred, and what nobody outside YouTube knows.
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How the X (Twitter) algorithm works, according to its own code
X has published the code behind its For You feed twice, in 2023 and in its current form in 2026. I read it: here's how posts get ranked, and what the code can't tell you.
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This is the plain-language version. The full research — every stage written out formally — is Jean-Paul Azzi's, and it's becoming a book. Every claim here points at the platform's own paper, page or code; nothing comes from marketing blogs.