Internet Book Club: Filterworld

A disappointing, uncurious look at the algorithms that shape social media

I really wanted to like Kyle Chayka’s Filterworld. It’s got a great premise - What are the algorithms that shape social media and the internet we use every day? How do they work, and how are they influencing our behavior, our culture, our politics? I’m into that. Lay it on me. But Filterworld ends up as an oddly preachy, judgy book that isn’t actually all that curious about the subject it’s claiming to explore. It’s good at identifying trends, but has little interesting to say about them afterwards. And it falls into the classic blunders that trap so many books about the internet.

Let’s jump into where it falls short.