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Post by Haighus on Feb 20, 2023 6:23:08 GMT -5
To continue from a deleted former thread elsewhere. In part because I have been enjoying the show.
Apparently Meta (FB, IG) are also considering paid verification. They clearly want to jump in on the wild success of Twitter over recent months.
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Post by maddocgrotsnik on Feb 20, 2023 6:24:26 GMT -5
I can think of far worse things to happen in the world than social media going away entirely.
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Post by Haighus on Feb 20, 2023 6:36:16 GMT -5
Quoted here as relevant IMO. Hmm, you may be right. I agree it is scary how quickly people seem to be able to drop into this stuff.
I wish I could remember the source, but I remember seeing an investigation someone did into how fast the youtube algorithm will feed you extremist content. IIRC it was single-digit clicks to go from fairly mainstream right-wing content to Q conspiracies, flat earth theory, etc. And once you got into that stuff any counter-arguments immediately disappeared from the recommended content, it turned into a giant echo chamber feeding you one conspiracy video after another. And IIRC this was before covid and election conspiracies were a thing, so I'm sure it's even worse now.
On a personal level my brother's old best friend fell victim to this stuff. As far as I could tell he was just a normal guy, a bit right of center and heavy on the Jesus stuff (except the part about not having casual sex) but otherwise normal, right up until he took a sudden turn into conspiracy stuff. Now occasionally FB will show me his posts on some random news article about how a NASA story is all "CGI" because the earth is flat and space travel is all a round-earth conspiracy or how all disease was invented by the medical industry and all you need for health is to take some obscure herbal supplement pill once a day.
I do think this is a major issue with "algorithmic" social media. It can be really strong too. I was trying to prune some shitty Sun article out of my Google feed the other day, but instead of hitting "not interested in this" I missed and accidentally opened the article. It was some utter guff like "I don't wear a bra and its great!", presumably with accompanying titillating pictures. Immediately closed. For the following week, similar vapid articles from the Scottish Sun or the US Sun etc etc ad nauseam have been clogging up my feed, Google seems to have only just got the message after repeating pruning that I don't give a stuff about this shite. Pain in the arse from a single misclick. Now apply that to some of the more dangerous bullshit outlets like the Sun publish. No effort for it to flood your feed, hard to clear it away. Reminds me of the alt-right pipeline too. |
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Post by maddocgrotsnik on Feb 20, 2023 6:49:56 GMT -5
I’ve long since given up trying to manage what Google thinks I like due to work. The sort of stuff I have to google is only ever for case knowledge. It’s proper thrown a spanner in the algorithm.
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Post by adurot on Feb 20, 2023 9:05:26 GMT -5
I had been having a problem with Facebook where it was just flooding me with Suggested For You stuff and only a smattering of stuff from groups I actually followed. On a suggestion I took to hitting the X in the corners of them, and it took a bit because there was a ton, but it’s mostly taken the hint that I don’t want all that. It’ll pop up stuff actually relevant to pages I follow, mostly comics since I follow Marvel, DC, and the local shop, but I still X most of them just so it doesn’t get cocky. The one thing I tend to let pass are animal videos which it has learned and does frequently show me random animal videos and mostly fills the Reels streams with them.
Otherwise I also really enjoy Tumblr which has no algorithm. Well technically they Did add one, but everyone immediately turns it off because that’s an option, and then your dashboard is only the people you follow in the order they post as they post.
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Post by maddocgrotsnik on Feb 20, 2023 9:37:44 GMT -5
Yeah mine went through a period of that.
What truly baffles me is it keep vomiting up dodgy religious guff from “Miracle Pastors”. Doesn’t matter how often I tell FB I’m not interested, still they come.
The financial guff I understand, that’s all work related. But it pisses me off they actively host Really Fucking Obvious Scam Ads, including promoting high risk investments which is illegal in the U.K., yet claim they’re not subject to Advertising Laws.
The reason I can’t recall, but I think it’s based on a US Law(section 230 or similar?) where the host isn’t responsible for the post?
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Post by maddocgrotsnik on Mar 6, 2023 7:39:17 GMT -5
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Post by Haighus on Mar 6, 2023 8:32:16 GMT -5
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Post by Disciple of Fate on Mar 6, 2023 10:54:27 GMT -5
Now we just have to wait for the Teslarati article on it, otherwise it can't be true.
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Post by pacific on Mar 7, 2023 1:53:40 GMT -5
I'll be honest I first cut down how much time I was spending on Twitter and now very little time at all. Logged in the other day, and it's fairly marked how much it has devolved in terms of quality of posts and even quantity. There is just so much shit you have to wade through to find anything worthwhile, and that's ignoring the technical problems which make the platform more frustrating to use.
That most of all makes me sad, there were people genuinely using the platform for news, entertainment and their hobbies. It's been pulled down to the level of some sort of bot-filled 4chan. And I am only just exaggerating by saying that, it only has a little way to go.
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Post by maddocgrotsnik on Mar 7, 2023 4:26:40 GMT -5
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Post by Least censored on the planet! on Mar 7, 2023 6:36:45 GMT -5
Boss from hell.
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Post by maddocgrotsnik on Mar 7, 2023 7:08:36 GMT -5
Indeed. I’ve had micro-managers who had zero understanding of my actual job in the past, but this is something else.
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Post by Disciple of Fate on Mar 7, 2023 7:09:09 GMT -5
Mocking disabilities, now Musk can truly consider himself a Republican.
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Post by Least censored on the planet! on Mar 7, 2023 8:00:03 GMT -5
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