Seminar

Past

Algorithmic Attention and Content Creation on Social Media Platforms

Li Fei

  • Date4 June 2026
  • Time 14h00 - 15h00
  • Room Online, Zoom

Abstract

We study the revenue-maximizing allocation of attention on an ad-funded social media platform governed by content recommendation algorithms. Attention is costly and serves a dual role: it can be directly monetized through advertising, or it can be allocated to creators to increase exposure, strengthen effort incentives, and thereby generate more attention thanks to better content. This tension creates a trade-off between monetization and production incentives. In a two-sided model with heterogeneous viewers and creators under private information, the optimal recommendation mix includes content that is ex post suboptimal for some viewers in order to leverage cross-side network externalities. Two-sided complementarities amplify informational distortions and overturn the standard no-distortion-at-the-top intuition. When advertising markets are strong, monetary transfers substitute for attention-based incentives.

Related document(s)

Other seminars

Past

Decoding Rankings: Consumer Search, Price Competition, and Platform Regulation

  • Seminar

  • Economics of Platforms Seminar

  • Date 1 October 2026

  • Place Zoom

  • Speaker or organiser Hanlin Zhao

Details

Past

Impressing the Algorithm

  • Seminar

  • Economics of Platforms Seminar

  • Date 3 September 2026

  • Place Online

  • Speaker or organiser Sandro Shelegia (University of Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona)

Details

Past

The Impact of Google AI Overviews on Publisher Traffic and User Experience: Evidence from a Field Experiment

  • Seminar

  • Economics of Platforms Seminar

  • Date 2 July 2026

  • Place Online

  • Speaker or organiser Saharsh Agarwal (Indian School of Business)

Details