The Algorithm Audit for Beer Fans: What Social Media Really Feeds You

You open Instagram or TikTok thinking you’ll scroll for the latest updates on beer news, only for a few minutes, and forty minutes later, you’ve watched a bunch of videos, most of which left you feeling a little drained, maybe even a bit jealous of someone else’s “perfect” pint or weekend plans. You don’t remember deciding to watch any specific content; it just kept coming. That’s no accident. Social media algorithms are designed to keep you engaged by feeding you content that triggers strong emotions and keeps you scrolling. The tricky part? You don’t actually know what you’ve been training your algorithm to show you. 

Every like, watch, and pause teaches it what grabs your attention; be it that self-improvement content, outrage-driven takes, or even casual entertainment like videos about online games and baccarat. Being focused does not mean being entertained or appreciated. The algorithm is an engagement-optimizing one, not well-being maximizing. It will gladly nourish your content, which leaves you angry, jealous, or anxious, as long as it has you scrolling. A proper algorithm audit helps you see exactly what’s showing up in your feed, why it’s there, and how to retrain it so your social media actually serves you, and maybe even helps you discover more content you genuinely enjoy, like craft beer reviews or fun homebrew experiments.

Here’s Everything to Know About How Social Media Algorithms Work

Algorithms watch it all: what you’re a fan of, how much time you spend on something, what content you comment on and share, even what causes you to stall as you scroll through. They take all this data and predict what will keep you engaged for the longest amount of time. And most importantly, they don’t care if content makes you happy or increases the quality of your life; they only care that it keeps you on the platform. Outrage, envy, and anxiety are all incredibly engaging emotions, which is why algorithms so frequently serve content that incites them, including beer news updates.

The Invisible Training Process

You may believe you are merely passively consuming content, but each interaction is an instruction to the algorithm. Watched a video on love drama? You’ll get more relationship drama. Stopped on political content even if you didn’t click? You’ll see more politics. Worked out to fitness content but watched it with disdain? The algorithm doesn’t know better. All it knows is that you clicked.

Conducting Your Algorithm Audit

• Spend a day on it and notice: As you scroll, look at what it’s showing you. Screenshot or jot down categories. Don’t do it yet, don’t change your behavior; just observe.
• Classify your content: What is the ratio of educational to other? Entertaining? Making you feel inadequate? Making you angry? Making you laugh? Informative? Pure distraction?
• Notice patterns: Is the platform showing you loads of posts about things you couldn’t be less interested in? Is your feed provoking you to feel certain kinds of negative feelings? Do you see the same content again and again?
• Ask the tough questions: Is this content in alignment with my values and purpose? Do I watch it because I want to, or because the algorithm offered it? How do I feel after that?

The Engagement vs. Value Gap

Content that is highly engaging isn’t always valuable. You might find yourself watching ten videos on some big drama between people you’ve never met, but it doesn’t add anything to your life. On the other hand, educational or meaningful content can receive less engagement because it demands effort. Your algorithm is optimized for engagement, not value, leaving a gap between what you’re fed and what serves you.

Retraining Your Algorithm

• Actively curate: Scroll through, but take advantage of “not interested”, “hide”, and “don’t recommend” options. Write the algorithm for what you do not want.
• Engage intentionally: It is only valuable engagement to like, comment, or save what is valuable.
• Seek out quality: Find and pursue quality accounts. Do not use algorithmic recommendations only.
• Use interest settings: Most platforms allow you to select interests directly. These are used to control your algorithm to take on subjects you are interested in.
• Take breaks from specific content: Sometimes a feed is too narrow to the same content, i.e., politics, celebrity gossip, fitness, or gambling, so it is necessary to pause it for a week to reorganize the algorithm.

The 30-Day Feed Transformation

Dedicate one month to conscious training on algorithms. Whenever you open an app, stop, consider, and ask yourself, What do I want out of this session? Then only communicate with material that fits that purpose. Hide or skip everything else. In time, your feed will move not to interrupt what you do but promote your objectives.

Platform-Specific Strategies

• Instagram: Use “not interested” liberally. Unfollow accounts that no longer serve you. Curate your follows intentionally.
• TikTok: Long-press and select “not interested” often. The For You page adapts quickly when trained deliberately.
• YouTube: Clear watch history periodically. Use “don’t recommend channel” to remove unwanted content. Subscribe with intention.
• Twitter/X: Unfollow aggressively. Separate content into lists to avoid an overall pileup of content in your main feed.

Mindful Brewing of Your Feed

Getting reliable updates on beer news will help you start your day. The next step is to determine what you observe and inquire if it is how you would rather spend your time and focus. Algorithms will provide you with whatever will keep you active, and it is your task to educate them on what engagement should entail. Believe in curation, be selective, and always remember: all the interaction is training data. Your feed can be a time-saving resource and an inspiration source, or an anxiety-driven time wastage.