Escrever com plugins: plataformização dos textos e mediações algorítmicas

Abstract

The question that guided this work was: How has the logic of platforms like Google influenced the production of texts that circulate on the web? The general idea was to verify reconfigurations of writing and editing practices for texts that are produced under specific parameters, such as the number of characters, title models, hierarchization with optimization techniques, among others. These texts have not only their production but also their performance (in terms of audience reach) measured by the platform, implied by algorithms that are generally opaque, even to experts. In order to achieve an environment of observation and platformized textual experience, our methodology was to create a simulated space in which it would be possible to write and edit under the influence of plugins, namely Yoast SEO and Rank Math, from WordPress.com. In this article, we show a test with a chronicle published in Brazil and what results when it is subjected to the parameters of the plugins, editing the text until it is considered “approved”. Then we comment on the possible consequences of excessively parameterized writing for digital environments, such as the strong tendency towards homogenization and standardization of textual productions on the Internet.