![]() ![]() Because most of it is in the metadata, we may not be aware of what categories are being served to us. The personalised homepage uses algorithms to offer you certain genre categories, as well as specific shows. While Squid Game is labelled with the genres “Korean, TV thrillers, drama” to the public, there are thousands of more specific categories in Netflix’s metadata that are shaping our consumption. We are constantly fed new labels and categories as we consume music, films and television. Listeners also come up with their own genre labels when creating playlists. Spotify alone has over five thousand music genres. While 50 years ago, you might have discovered a handful of music genres through friends or by going to the record shop, the advent of streaming has brought classification and genre to our media consumption on a grand scale. I coined this term to describe how viewing the world through genres, labels and categories helps shape our own identities and sense of place in the world. The possibilities of streaming have inspired a new “ classificatory imagination ”. The categories used to label culture into genres have always been important, but they took on new forms and power with streaming. To make all this content manageable, streaming platforms have introduced new ways of organising culture for us. These algorithms don’t just respond to our tastes, they also shape and influence them.īut focusing too much on the algorithm misses another important cultural transformation that has happened. Our cultural landscape is now automated rather than simply being a product of our previous experiences, background and social circles. ![]() As soon as we open the app the personalisation processes begin. How do we cope with so many options? Services like Netflix use algorithms to guide our attention in certain directions, organising content and keeping us active on the platform. ![]() Streaming platforms like Netflix, Spotify and Amazon Prime have undoubtedly reshaped the way we consume media, primarily by massively increasing the film, music and TV available to viewers. Out of the thousands of programmes available on Netflix globally, how did so many people end up watching the same show? The easy answer is an algorithm – a computer program that offers us personalised recommendations on a platform based on our data and that of other users. Netflix’s dystopian Korean drama Squid Game has become the streaming platform’s biggest-ever series launch, with 111 million viewers watching at least two minutes of an episode. ![]()
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January 2023
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