---
title: "What a Feed Is Optimised For"
description: "A feed is ranked to hold attention, not to inform you, so posts that provoke travel further than posts that are careful. Work out who pays the platform, then read your own feed against that."
canonical: https://lightmysky.com/learn/personal-and-social-development/what-a-feed-is-optimised-for-mt_kzhPakduam
source: https://lightmysky.com/learn/personal-and-social-development/what-a-feed-is-optimised-for-mt_kzhPakduam.md
retrieved: 2026-09-12
---

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# What a Feed Is Optimised For

A feed is ranked to hold attention, not to inform you, so posts that provoke travel further than posts that are careful. Work out who pays the platform, then read your own feed against that.

Subject: Personal & Social Development · Area: Responsible Decision-Making · Ages 15 to 16
Page: https://lightmysky.com/learn/personal-and-social-development/what-a-feed-is-optimised-for-mt_kzhPakduam

## Ready when they can

- Explain who pays a free platform and what the platform sells them
- Give two reasons an angry post outranks a careful one when the ranking counts engagement
- Change one setting or habit (notifications, follow list, time of day) and describe what it changed over a week

## Lesson: Your feed is ranked, not neutral

A free platform is paid by advertisers, and what it sells them is your attention. The feed is ranked to hold that attention, not to inform you.

**Example.** An angry post outranks a careful one for two reasons: outrage wins clicks, and clicks train the ranking to show more outrage. Provoking posts travel further than careful ones.

Read your own feed against who pays. Ask why each top post sits on top: did it inform you, or did it hook you.

**Tip.** Change one setting or habit, like muting notifications, trimming follows or shifting the hour you scroll, and note what changes across a week.

**Recap.** Attention is the product, outrage wins the ranking, and one changed habit reveals the machine.

## Practice

8 questions on this page, each with its working shown.

## Needs first

- [Online Identity and Misinformation](https://lightmysky.com/learn/personal-and-social-development/online-identity-and-misinformation-mt_WtO50EZQkf)

## Opens up

- [Judging a Political Claim](https://lightmysky.com/learn/civics-and-economics/judging-a-political-claim-mt_pGwJVkz8L1)
- [The Version of You a Stranger Can Find](https://lightmysky.com/learn/personal-and-social-development/the-version-of-you-a-stranger-can-find-mt_VImLKlfgy4)