Everyday algorithmic imaginaries: Visibility practices of older Chinese women content creators

Older women's digital content creation is often excluded from mainstream discussions of platform algorithms. However, their interactions with algorithms constitute a crucial pathway for challenging ageism and sexism in digital spaces. This study draws on eight months of digital ethnographic observation of 15 older female content creators on the Chinese lifestyle platform RedNote (Xiaohongshu), supplements by semi-structured interviews with seven of them to examine how this group understands platform algorithms and organizes content practice and visibility. The findings show that they develop an algorithmic imaginary grounded in life rationality. The algorithm is understood as a platform environment shaped by relational response, age-based capital, and emotional connection. This imaginary is socially produced through family collaboration, follower feedback, and peer support, in the form of what this article calls "sisterly wisdom." Meanwhile, they continually regulate their distance from the platform according to their creative motivations. Visibility is therefore redefined: rather than a purely technical outcome, it becomes a process through which older women move from domestic invisibility to digital public expression, and from being seen to being trusted. Theoretically, this study expands understandings of older women's digital literacy by foregrounding their situated knowledge practices and emphasizing the importance of respecting marginalized groups' self-developed epistemic claims. Practically, it calls for building more age- and gender-inclusive digital environments that recognize and support marginalized users' agentic engagements with algorithmic systems.