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"The real goal of all of these editors, curators, everybody, is to get you to come back, and the only way to get you to come back is that you are helpful, you are satisfying some need," said Charlene Li, founder of the business research firm Altimeter Group. "It's some form of mind-reading, to anticipate what it is that people want to hear about."
Ms. Li said that equation was complicated by sponsored tweets and posts, because the user must trust that the site is presenting suggested content because it thinks it's relevant, and not just to make money.
Facebook has arguably stumbled by presenting its ranking in a way that suggests that it knows best what you want to read about. And what you often want to know, Ms. Li said, is what your friends are reading about.
"The most interesting feed I find is the one that's dictated by what my friends are looking at," she said.