First Draft Club

The Algo’s Just Not That Into You

Something weird is happening on Farcaster, and it’s time we talk about it openly. This isn’t just “home feed doing home feed things.” It’s much deeper and more concerning. 

Some casts are skyrocketing with 10k+ views from accounts that have 1k followers. Meanwhile, longtime casters with 100k+ followers are seeing reach crater by 50%. The math doesn’t add up…unless something’s being boosted.

We’re watching artificial amplification play out in real time and this experiment needs to end now before more trust is lost. 

The algorithm cares more about engagement quality than raw follower numbers. There are several Dune queries who show the most popular casters by the numbers, but they do NOT align with the Farcaster Leaderboard. We know that not everyone’s engagement is weighted equally, and most of us have come to begrudgingly accept this fact. 

The home and trending feed have always favored certain accounts, and as little as two engagements with those accounts can amplify a cast to trending.  We see it and have come to terms with it. 

But recently, we’ve seen a new trend emerge: artificial algorithmic boosting…to levels never before seen on Farcaster…and we need to stop dancing around the subject and talk about it. 

A user with 1,000 followers might have a highly active niche audience, while someone with 250,000 might have a large but disengaged base…but we have Dune queries to show us how “active” each account’s followers have been over the last 7 and 30 days. 

Very large accounts (6-figure followings) tend to have about 50% of their followers be considered “active” under this metric (active=have casted, liked, or recasted).

Newer accounts skew higher because many are only a few weeks old, so most of their followers are obviously active. 

If the algorithm is boosting based on more active followers, it could explain the great discrepancies we are seeing in reach, so we need to look deeper. 

A new tool has emerged that lets us look into the number of unique accounts that interacted with a user's content in the last 30 days, and the data is very telling. This data counts everyone on the protocol, not just those with good spam labels. 

If you think your engagement has gone down a lot over the past few weeks, you aren’t imagining it. Usually, if 2-3% of your followers interact with your casts, you are doing great.  But what if most of the people who follow you never even see your casts in the latest version of the algorithm? Spoiler alert: they don’t. 

Let’s compare some of the biggest, most established accounts on the network to newer accounts who I believe are being artificially amplified. 

These accounts all have well over 100,000 followers each (even more on the protocol!), cast daily, and consistently engage back with the network. Their content and casting patterns have not changed noticeably over the last 30 days. 

The number of unique accounts they have reached in the last 30 days and how much their engagement is down is as follows:

15,400 (down 67%)
7,500 (down 49%)
1,500 (down 29%)
2,700 (down 36%)
6,500 (down 55%)
4,200 (down 54%)

Now let’s compare this to one of the new accounts that I believe are being purposely placed into many users’ home feeds (note that these accounts have 1,000-3,000 followers). 

10,500

The number of views on many of their casts are also between 10,000 and 18,000 views. Remember, the data above shows interactions, but even more people have seen these casts!

A user with 1,000 followers getting seen by 10,000+ people requires external amplification.

That reach doesn’t emerge organically. The algorithm chose to show them beyond their organic social graph. 

Observing a few examples of weird reach/follower ratios doesn’t necessarily prove systemic bias.  Visibility is complex and can swing based on timing, interaction graphs, and reposts by top casters, but the math doesn’t add up without boosting.

The people getting boosted didn’t necessarily ask to be. Now they’re targets of backlash; they are victims as well. 

Meanwhile, those who have not had this type of algorithmic boost feel invisible and demoralized, even if they’ve consistently added value to the community.

It’s creating a toxic imbalance that erodes trust across the board. We can politely say “vibes are off” and tell people to just mute what they don’t want to see, but that’s not going to solve the issue at hand. This is deeper than engagement FOMO.
We are watching something we’ve invested time into start to resemble the very platforms we came here to escape.

The algorithm may be silent, but its choices are loud. If it is hand picking winners, the rest of us should stop pretending we’re playing the same game. Invest your time here accordingly.

carwash enthusiast

@ceejifi everywhere else social connections are made

@jacque and @zwillow just did this experiment!

They may both have thoughts!!!

Honestly if I can figure out how to do @adrienne script I’m hopping on the unfollow trend. I know I spoke about it when @pichi did hers too. 

So be kind rewind ya know. 

https://github.com/atenger/farcaster-unfollow-refollow-everyone

I’m going to be refreshing all my following soon to see how the algo through removing who I follow. I have been talking about this for a while more than a few months and honestly the algo hasn't gotten better so now with this tag from @pichi I’m going to be just ripping off the bandaid. 

Please remember this is an experiment.

The app being used is created by @compusophy and I have downloaded the backup file

https://farcaster.xyz/miniapps/zuk8qhrAxueF/compusophy

https://farcaster.xyz/pichi/0x7ce2a7f3

https://farcaster.xyz/~/conversations/0xb1405e816ff3cfe9dceac8ac7491fed457517cbb

Pi-chi.eth Artist /animeoutcasts
Hosting: /sakura /kyoto /anime-manga /farcasterunion

https://portrait.so/pichi

It’s the inactive user count and the fact that most artists get pushed down in the algo on this app. When it doesn’t show us who we already follow what is the point of adding more to their noise and making it harder for them to get visibility to begin with. Some I can see have heavy hitters and accounts that give more sway in LB points. Honestly at this point I think i’m not even getting anything this week.

confessions

I’m about to give up on here again. It’s 2 AM I’m trying so hard JUST to be unseen. Putting in effort and engaging for absolutely NOTHING. Just being pushed down in the algo and getting lost in the void.

Warpcast

Algo has been feeling off. As if it's inner circle cabal and teams chosen cohort’s boosts are extremely active in the timelines even if I and no one I follow engage with them they are popping up. It’s REALLY strong to see on my alt account. 

Also I rairly get ANY follow notifications from folxs esp if I follow them and I KNOW they don't get notifications if they follow me and I follow them back. 

Just me?

https://farcaster.xyz/jacque/0x6f79a9a8

https://farcaster.xyz/jacque/0x22bf3950

https://farcaster.xyz/~/conversations/0x322ea8ddcb2791b68ccbfb8513336650c159957c

stream of concious writer, musician, & artist | co-founder of /wac

A) They are usually not seen by the algo
B) Somehow they sign up and just ghost
C )The only incentive for new accounts is if the team personally onboards them to get the boosting

Yet somehow I made it through the dark void so I keep telling them it's hard work long sad nights and tons of fighting the algo yet doable.

Been fighting the algo and bans since I joined

Street stories ,dog mom ,foodie & I’ve got that VIP edge 👻 Host of /competitionalert •
Co-host of /veg 
linktr.ee/Milibooo

went on incognito and seems they may have changed to posting their own stuff hopefully.

i do hope they are and things change. it’s a climb to even get seen in the algo these days

Shower Thoughts

Call me /aj | /origami folder | residing in /dcl

@pichi said the algo kept playing games with her a little bit even when she was following no one, IMO with all this money at grabs, it’s a common thing that unfollows are gonna happen because if it’s the same people that are winning and everything there’s something wrong. Be the change.

https://farcaster.xyz/~/conversations/0xc2f308f10707c632e9d3e3f1b420fe9ae0b71368

https://farcaster.xyz/~/conversations/0x6c7fc569ab2961d3e9ea0392d4da86c633a872b0

https://farcaster.xyz/jacque/0xcc292041

https://farcaster.xyz/~/conversations/0x0d73e12df68a0b18c8901143944c7939a2f9ec38