LG Electronics (LG) launched a global campaign called ‘optimism your feed,’ which aims to help users bring more optimism to their social media experience by inviting them to proactively engage with positive and inspiring content on their feeds.
“As a customer-focused brand, LG is a passionate champion of optimism. We aim to create positive changes in people’s lives by being intentional with our positive activities both online and in the real world,” said Kim Hyo-eun, vice president and head of LG’s brand management division. “In the AI era, LG remains committed to our unwavering promise of ‘life’s good.’ We will continue to enhance our customers’ lives with a human-centric approach, fostering hope for a better future”.
A new global survey commissioned by LG found that social media is both a source of anxiety and a place where people turn to be entertained, keep up with friends and family, and stay informed about news and current events.
According to the survey, almost half of respondents (45 percent) report their social media feeds consist of an equal or greater amount of negative content than positive content. One in four respondents (28 percent) claimed negative content on their social media feeds has increased their anxiety and one in five (20 percent) said it has made them unhappy. Other studies also suggest that algorithms often promote negative and niche conversations.
The global survey sought to understand the triggers that affect how algorithms work and how to increase your feed’s positive content. The result is the ‘optimism your feed’ playlist of original content that, when interacted with, will pull more optimistic content into your feed. ‘Optimism your feed’ is part of the company’s global life’s good campaign, introduced last year to inspire and encourage people to approach life with an optimistic attitude.
Created in collaboration with global influencers renowned for their optimistic influences including Tina Choi, Victoria Browne, Josh Harmon and more, the ‘optimism your feed’ playlist includes over 20 short-form videos ranging from motivation to feel-good content.
LG consulted with social media experts including Professor Casey Fiesler, an information scientist and technology ethicist, with a PhD in human centred computing. Fiesler researches and teaches in the areas of technology ethics, internet policy, and online communities, and has published on topics such as social media content moderation and recommender systems. She also educates the public on these topics as a content creator.
“Recommendation algorithms determine what we see on social media by predicting what content we are likely to engage with. These algorithms can therefore send us down ever more specific niches – for good and for bad. Research has shown that left unchecked, users can go down negative rabbit holes and encounter harmful content quite quickly. One of our first lines of defence needs to be improving our digital literacy, and paying more attention to how algorithms influence our online experiences. And the good news is that we do have some control over the input for these algorithmic predictions; if we choose to engage with optimistic content, there’s a good possibility we will see more of it,” said Fiesler.
“The algorithms on our social channel can have a big impact on the content we see online, which impacts our mental health. That’s why I’m passionate about ‘optimism your feed’, and I hope that people use this playlist as a foundation to retrain their algorithm and encourage positivity in all aspects of their lives. So much of the stigma and difficulty of tackling mental health is that it is unseen. With this campaign, we are saying you should reach out to your friends, and that we can help each other. Our algorithm should recommend content that makes us feel more connected to people, not less,” said Victoria Browne, a global influencer and TEDx Talk speaker.
The ‘optimism your feed’ playlist can be found on the global LG TikTok channel (@lge_lifesgood) and global YouTube channel (@LGGlobal), and will later spread to various social media platforms through collaborations with influencers around the world.
