Live data from Hacker News

Just 6% of US adults on Twitter account for 73% of political tweets

techcrunch.com

11–20 of 20 posts

Re: Just 6% of US adults on Twitter account for 73% of political tweets

#13
post #2

And only a tiny fraction of adults in the US are on Twitter at all. That is why it's unnerving to see politicians and corporations so readily bend over backwards to appease Twitter. This is a big reason for the polarization on both sides - Twitter encourages so many declarations and steps one after the other in such rapid succession that we are sprinting away like never before.

The polarization was there Twitter made it visible Don’t tell me a country that only elected its first black President 11 years ago (and has yet to elect a woman) wasn’t dealing with some serious polarization problems This is retconning history and deflecting away from the fact public apathy towards involvement in the political system is the problem Mental gymnastics need to stop and the public need to take a sober l…

Using the race and gender of elected officials is a great way to determine polarization...

Re: Just 6% of US adults on Twitter account for 73% of political tweets

#14

Twitter is a giant cesspool like Facebook. Empowering hateful idiots and making money from it is not a sacred mission statement.

Which ones are the hateful idiots to you? I'd wager we'd come up with two very different pools of people, but I could be wrong.

Re: Just 6% of US adults on Twitter account for 73% of political tweets

#16
post #14

Twitter is a giant cesspool like Facebook. Empowering hateful idiots and making money from it is not a sacred mission statement.

Which ones are the hateful idiots to you? I'd wager we'd come up with two very different pools of people, but I could be wrong.

Trick question! Both of your answers will be correct.

Re: Just 6% of US adults on Twitter account for 73% of political tweets

#17

Twitter is a giant cesspool like Facebook. Empowering hateful idiots and making money from it is not a sacred mission statement.

It really is working like that for any global communities. Reddit, HN, facebook, twitter, there is no escaping it. As soon as a community is big enough to cut personal connections you're in for troubles.

I'm on a few hobby forums which are either restricted to a geographic area or a very niche hobby and there is literally no drama, everyone is chill, arguments are civilised, you can talk about everything but it never gets out of control. It's like talking to your parents or your best friend who has a diametrically opposed opinion vs screaming at a stranger you disagree with at a political rally.

Re: Just 6% of US adults on Twitter account for 73% of political tweets

#18
post #2

And only a tiny fraction of adults in the US are on Twitter at all. That is why it's unnerving to see politicians and corporations so readily bend over backwards to appease Twitter. This is a big reason for the polarization on both sides - Twitter encourages so many declarations and steps one after the other in such rapid succession that we are sprinting away like never before.

> This is a big reason for the polarization on both sides - Twitter encourages so many declarations and steps one after the other in such rapid succession that we are sprinting away like never before. I am becoming more convinced that Twitter is a net negative for humanity and for liberal democracy. If you tried to come up with something g to tear apart a society, it would be hard to do worse than Twitter.

The platform doesn't do anything to promote actual engagement in conversation and instead actually provides tools that serve to only promote an echo chamber.

Any user that is seeking to promote one point of view can endlessly churn out tweets from their perspective. If anybody challenges them in any way, asks them to provide backing or evidence of some type, or provides any details disproving their claims all the user has to do is block that user and continue posting. The blocked user no longer has access to even view those tweets and anything challenging the preferred narrative is not even allowed into the conversation.

There is no limit to blocking people. You don't need justification to block somebody. I understand it's necessary to be able to block harassment but the way it's implemented goes well beyond that goal.

Re: Just 6% of US adults on Twitter account for 73% of political tweets

#20
When I joined Twitter I thought, "Oh cool, I'll follow the celebrities and journalists I like, and they'll talk about cool stuff that's coming out, maybe crack a few jokes, and it will be fun"

I left when I realized that most of them just use twitter to vent about politics.

Post reply on HN