We were warned!--Originally published 3-25-2014!-----Google, Facebook, Amazon: algorithms will soon rule our lives so we'd better understand how they work

Google, Facebook, Amazon: algorithms will soon rule our lives so we'd better understand how they work – Telegraph Blogs:

"Algorithms are vital to the internet because they help to order and arrange vast volumes of data at a scale and speed impossible for a human. 

Google’s famous PageRank algorithm counts the number of links to a page and assesses their quality to determine how important a website is...
Facebook’s feed prioritisation algorithm calculates which posts a user sees on his or her news feed...
Nothing is left to chance: by weighing up these three factors, the algorithm decides what you see... 
Without its clever algorithm, Google is nothing..."