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The political effects of X's feed algorithm

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Re: The political effects of X's feed algorithm

#101

Post by rl3 »

cyrusradfar wrote: post #98
rl3 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Odd reply, but OK. For what it's worth I largely agree with everything else you said. >> The problem, to me, is deeper and is rooted in our education system and work systems that demand compliance over creativity. Algorithms serve what Users engage with, if the Users were to no longer be interested in ragebait, clickbait, focused on thoughtful content -- the algorithms would adapt. Technically that's true. Thing is,…

I think we're relatively aligned. But you're sharing another chicken & egg problem of whether the algorithm (and engagement with it) is driving the design of the feeds or the other way around. Arguably, the initial design was a shot in the dark and they're approaching some local maxima with data-driven design trying to improve metrics that we probably all agree aren't the best for our mental health or wellbeing. Nice…

>Arguably, the initial design was a shot in the dark and they're approaching some local maxima with data-driven design trying to improve metrics that we probably all agree aren't the best for our mental health or wellbeing.

Yeah, the way I look at it is product managers and everyone above them in the reporting chain make more money for their respective companies the more they optimize short-form content delivery. Pretty much what you just said.

So, what we're left with is a hyper-optimized content pipeline over the years that's pretty rough to get away from when quite a large number of people are already accustomed and/or addicted. In other words it's really hard to close up Pandora's Box again, but fortunately not impossible.

>Nice chat, apologies if my response was off-putting. It was intended to be self-deprecating humor.

No worries, wasn't sure and didn't want to read into it wrong. Wasn't trying to be snarky on my end. Cheers.

Re: The political effects of X's feed algorithm

#102

Post by NedF »

cyrusradfar wrote: post #23

Lovely thought Ben. Good to hear from you! I spent a lot of my life and money thinking about building better algorithms (over five years). We have a bit of a chicken / egg problem. Is it the algorithm or is it the preference of the Users which is the problem. I'd argue the latter. What I learned which was counter-intuitive was that the vast majority of people aren't interested in thinking hard. This community, in lar…

[dead]

Re: The political effects of X's feed algorithm

#103

Post by TiredOfLife »

Aurornis wrote: post #7

I don’t know if I buy the explanation that this was due to the feed algorithm. It looks like an artifact of being exposed to X’s current user base instead of their old followers. When Twitter switched to X there was a noticeable shift in the average political leanings of the platform toward alignment with Musk, as many left-leaning people abandoned the platform for Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads. So changing your fee…

> When Twitter switched to X there was a noticeable shift in the average political leanings of the platform toward alignment with Musk, as many left-leaning people abandoned the platform for Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads.

Do you have any numbers. In my experience it's still majorly communists

Re: The political effects of X's feed algorithm

#104

Post by thrance »

TiredOfLife wrote: post #103
Aurornis wrote: post #7

I don’t know if I buy the explanation that this was due to the feed algorithm. It looks like an artifact of being exposed to X’s current user base instead of their old followers. When Twitter switched to X there was a noticeable shift in the average political leanings of the platform toward alignment with Musk, as many left-leaning people abandoned the platform for Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads. So changing your fee…

> When Twitter switched to X there was a noticeable shift in the average political leanings of the platform toward alignment with Musk, as many left-leaning people abandoned the platform for Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads. Do you have any numbers. In my experience it's still majorly communists

Open the front page in a private tab. Most posts are far right conspiracy theories, ragebait or grifts.

Look at that: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46504404

Re: The political effects of X's feed algorithm

#105

Post by timbit42 »

apparent wrote: post #86
timbit42 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't follow people who post about lots of stuff I don't care about. I follow hashtags instead, which gives me a much higher signal to noise ratio than following those people.

I thought hashtags were dead. Does this surface tweets that just have the word, not the hashtag? Can you follow multiple words using boolean operators?

Perhaps it depends on the platform. Hashtags work great on Mastodon.

Some Mastodon clients allow following multiple words using boolean operators although the amount of support may vary depending on which client you use:

eg.: #hashtag1 AND #hashtag2

Re: The political effects of X's feed algorithm

#106

Post by rbanffy »

dylan604 wrote: post #48
RetpolineDrama wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or from the other perspective: Meta and Google have had their finger on the scale for more than a decade (along with old twitter). In twitters case, you had regime officials directing censorship illegally through open emails and meetings. It's no surprise that the needle moves right when you dial back the suppression of free expression even a little bit (X still censors plenty)

How is it illegal? It is their platform to do what they want with it. You can disagree and not use it, but it is theirs to do with as they see fit. If this was a government run operation paid for with tax dollars, then it would be an issue.

I think that, when you cross a certain level, you ought to be held responsible for the influence you exert on society. All political power needs to come from the popular vote, through fair elections.

Re: The political effects of X's feed algorithm

#107

Post by RetpolineDrama »

dylan604 wrote: post #48
RetpolineDrama wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or from the other perspective: Meta and Google have had their finger on the scale for more than a decade (along with old twitter). In twitters case, you had regime officials directing censorship illegally through open emails and meetings. It's no surprise that the needle moves right when you dial back the suppression of free expression even a little bit (X still censors plenty)

How is it illegal? It is their platform to do what they want with it. You can disagree and not use it, but it is theirs to do with as they see fit. If this was a government run operation paid for with tax dollars, then it would be an issue.

>How is it illegal? It is their platform to do what they want with it.

It was illegal for the officials who did it, not for Meta/Google to follow their orders. That part was merely unethical.

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