Seoul, South Korea – LG Electronics (LG) has launched its latest global campaign called ‘Optimism Your Feed’ which helps bring more balance to social media feeds with positive social media content.
The ‘Optimism Your Feed’ campaign is influenced by LG’s global survey, which showed that 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 survey sought to understand the triggers that affect how algorithms work and how to increase your feed’s positive content.
Seeking to do something about the results of the survey, LG unveiled its new campaign, 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.
Collaborating with globally renowned influencers such as Tina Choi, Victoria Browne, and Josh Harmon, who are celebrated for their positive influence, LG’s ‘Optimism Your Feed’ campaign featured a playlist of over 20 short-form videos that span from motivational to feel-good content. When interacted with, the ‘Optimism Your Feed’ playlist will pull more optimistic content into your feed.
Additionally, LG is also consulting 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.
‘Optimism Your Feed’ is a key component of LG’s global ‘Life’s Good’ campaign, launched last year to inspire and encourage a more optimistic approach to life. This global playlist and campaign by LG enable users to encounter more positive and uplifting content on their social media feeds. By consciously choosing to engage with positive material, we can cultivate greater optimism, balance, and happiness in our lives.
Fiesler explained, “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 defense 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.”
Meanwhile, Kim Hyo-eun, vice president and head of the brand management division at LG, said, “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. 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.”
Victoria Browne, a global influencer and TEDx Talk speaker, also shared, “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.”
