Every time you scroll, like or share on a social media platform, an algorithm is watching, learning and deciding what you see next. But how many of us stop to think about what's actually driving those decisions, and what's at stake when we don't?
That question sits at the center of new research co-authored by Robert W. Gregory, associate professor of business technology, and Ola Henfridsson, professor of business technology and associate dean, both at the University of Miami Patti and Allan Herbert Business School, and Mareike Möhlmann of Bentley University.
Published in the Journal of Management Information Systems, the study examines how platforms like YouTube use algorithms to police, recommend, and monetize content, and what that means for the millions of people who use them every day. The researchers introduce the concept of "algorithmic stakeholder governance" to describe how platforms use automated systems to manage and balance the competing interests of creators, consumers and advertisers.
Many people turn to social media because it feels more direct and personal than traditional media. In practice, though, every piece of content a user encounters has already been filtered, ranked and shaped by algorithms designed primarily to maximize engagement on the platform. "The algorithm is sitting in the middle of every human interaction on these platforms," Gregory said. "At the end of the day, everything you see on social media is being shaped by it."
The study examines the relationship among three groups that make platforms like YouTube function: creators who produce content, consumers who watch it and advertisers who fund it. Each group has its own interests, and those interests don't always align. YouTube's algorithms are constantly working to balance all three, deciding what gets promoted, what gets restricted and who gets paid, in a way that keeps the entire ecosystem running at scale. The research draws on 66 in-depth interviews with creators, consumers, advertisers and YouTube executives, as well as nearly 3,000 user forum posts and 35 official YouTube press releases.
What the research makes clear, however, is that algorithms alone can only go so far. These are sophisticated systems, but they learn and improve based on the input they receive. The feedback loop only gets stronger when users engage actively and deliberately.
Whether that human involvement actually helps depends entirely on how people choose to engage. Some engage passively, scrolling without much reflection and quietly conforming to the platform's norms without realizing they are doing so. The researchers call this "unreflective endorsing," and it matters because those passive behaviors feed directly back into the algorithm, reinforcing whatever patterns are already in place.
Users who engage more deliberately tell a different story. When people flag content, request human reviews of automated decisions or provide intentional feedback to the platform, they are actively shaping how the algorithm learns and evolves. For entrepreneurs and content creators, this is particularly relevant. "If you understand how the actions you choose on the platform are shaped by these algorithmic systems, you can shape these network effects to your advantage," Gregory said. For example, a business owner who systematically manages their channel, reporting spam and understanding which content the algorithm rewards, is working with the system rather than being carried along by it.
Just as earlier generations gradually learned to evaluate different news sources and media institutions, users today can learn to do the same with social media. For Gregory, it is both a personal responsibility and a cultural moment still taking shape. "We have to grow up as a society and ask questions," he said. The most important first step, he argues, is recognizing that what appears in a feed is the result of deliberate design, not a neutral window onto the world — and that understanding how these systems work is ultimately what gives users the agency to make more informed choices about where and how they participate online.
This work arrives at a moment of significant momentum for Miami Herbert's Business Technology Department, which recently earned the No. 1 national ranking for research productivity in information systems from the Association of Information Systems Research Rankings Service, the first time the University of Miami has achieved that distinction. Gregory ranked No. 106 among information systems scholars worldwide, reflecting the department's strength in producing work that is academically rigorous and relevant beyond the classroom.
The paper, "Algorithmic Stakeholder Governance on Content Platforms: A Lead Role Perspective," is published in the Journal of Management Information Systems.
