LG Launches Global Campaign Optimism Your Feed To Restore Balance On Social Media

Photo: Doc. LG Electronics

JAKARTA - LG Electronics (LG) launched a global campaign titled Optimism Your Feed in order to spread optimism on social media. In this campaign, LG invites social media users to be more involved in encouraging positive and inspiring content that appears on their homepage or social media feed.

"As a customer-focused brand, LG is committed to restoring a sense of optimism into people's lives through positive activities, both online and offline. In the AI era, LG remains steadfast in our promise to create a good life, in line with our Life's Goods motto. We will improve customer life by implementing a sensitive human approach and foster better hopes for the future," said Kim Hyo-eun, Vice President and Head of LG's Brand Management Division, in a statement, Wednesday, May 29.

The latest global survey conducted by LG shows that social media is now not only used to seek entertainment, information, and connect with relatives and family, but is also a source of anxiety for many people. According to the survey, nearly half of respondents (45 percent) said that the amount of negative content on their social media feed is the same as or more than positive content.

One in four respondents (28 percent) stated that negative content on their social media often increases anxiety. One in five (20 percent) respondents even mentioned that negative content causes feelings of unhappyness. Furthermore, this survey shows that algorithms often bring netizens to a more negative flow of conversation and tend to niche.

This global survey aims to understand how algorithms work and trigger a turnover of positive content on netizen feed pages. From the survey, LG then created a playlist 'Optimism your feed' which consists of original content that can be watched by the public so that it indirectly changes the algorithm to further encourage more optimistic content into the feed.

This 'Optimism your feed' playlist is part of a global Life's Good LG campaign launched last year to inspire and encourage people to live life with an optimistic attitude.

In this campaign, LG also collaborated with various well-known international TikTok influencers such as Tina Choi, Victoria Browne, Josh Harmon and many more to make more than 20 motivational, fun, and growing joy short videos.

In addition, LG consulted with various social media experts, one of which is Professor Casey Fiesler who is an information scientist and technology ethical with a PhD degree in Human Centered Computing. Professor Fiesler conducts research and teaching in the fields of technology ethics, internet policies, and the online community, as well as publishing books on social media content moderation and recommendation systems. Professor Fiesler is also a content creator who actively educates the public about these topics.

Social media has become an important part of people's lives. In it, there is an algorithm that can change the content or videos we see.

LG's global playlists and campaigns aim to provide opportunities for users to consume more positive content that inspires enthusiasm. By raising awareness to be more selective in content followed, we can restore optimism, balance, and happiness in our lives.

Professor Casey Fiesler said the recommendation algorithm will determine the content that appears on homepages or feeds on our social media. This algorithm can predict based on the type of content we've watched, which we give likes, or previous comments.

Therefore, this algorithm can also bring us into the horbit hole, which is a situation where we are entangled with certain topics. This can have a good or bad impact, depending on the topic. However, based on studies, social media users can enter negative holes and find harmful content while surfing online if this is not controlled.

One of the first lines of defense is to improve our digital literacy and understand how algorithms work on social media. Social media users can also contribute by interacting with optimistic content, such as providing likes or comments. This will change the algorithm so that it will provide a more positive content recommendation in the future.

Victoria Browne, a global influencer from England and TEDx Talk speaker, said this algorithm could affect the content we see while surfing on social media. If the content displayed tends to be negative, of course it will have an impact on our mental health.

"Therefore, I am enthusiastic about being part of the Optimism Your Feed campaign. I hope that many people who watch content in the 'Optimism Your Feed' playlist will indirectly change their social media algorithms and create a positive sense of life. Without us realizing it, our mental health can be influenced by many invisible things. With this campaign, we also encourage people to reconnect with their beloved relatives and help each other. We must change this algorithm so that we always recommend content that makes us feel more familiar, not even far apart, "explained Victoria.