Examine, predict and prescribe behaviors: how the “engagement algorithms” work at Globoplay

Abstract

The growing influence of algorithms and digital platforms in communication processes has received special attention from the academic community. However, the algorithm is almost always treated as an impenetrable mechanism, limiting the researches. This article opens up some of these “black boxes” investigating the structure of Globoplay’s “engagement algorithms”. The exploration is based on recent scientific articles published by developers of the video streaming platform. In these articles, the operations are described and justified by specialists who effectively create the codes, showing how computational thinking deals with social notions. The main objective is to understand how programmers translate the polysemic concept of “engagement” into algorithms that try to examine, predict and prescribe the behavior of users of the platform.

Keywords: Algorithm. Platformisation. Video streaming. Engagement. Globoplay.