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The End of Big Twitter

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Re: The End of Big Twitter

#71

Post by ducuboy »

A_COMPUTER wrote: post #39

Twitter is an optimal conduit for narcissism, trolling, harassment, mobbing, astroturfing, demagoguery, and manufacturing consent. The medium shapes the discourse, and Twitter encourages and amplifies bad behavior while inhibiting intelligent and thoughtful conversation. Even if it didn't architecturally push you toward this behavior the scale alone enables every bad behavior you would expect if you scaled a single I…

I wonder how it would have developed if they had not displayed the numbers of followers/following.

Re: The End of Big Twitter

#72

Post by ealdent »

A_COMPUTER wrote: post #39

Twitter is an optimal conduit for narcissism, trolling, harassment, mobbing, astroturfing, demagoguery, and manufacturing consent. The medium shapes the discourse, and Twitter encourages and amplifies bad behavior while inhibiting intelligent and thoughtful conversation. Even if it didn't architecturally push you toward this behavior the scale alone enables every bad behavior you would expect if you scaled a single I…

I would argue that you are correct, but I wouldn't limit it to Twitter. There are many crackhouses -- even hacker news can be one (though thankfully, our junkies remain civil and politely die in a corner where no one sees them). It is never as easy to be inhuman to someone as when hiding behind the veil of apparent anonymity.

Re: The End of Big Twitter

#73

Post by blackaspen »

A_COMPUTER wrote: post #39

Twitter is an optimal conduit for narcissism, trolling, harassment, mobbing, astroturfing, demagoguery, and manufacturing consent. The medium shapes the discourse, and Twitter encourages and amplifies bad behavior while inhibiting intelligent and thoughtful conversation. Even if it didn't architecturally push you toward this behavior the scale alone enables every bad behavior you would expect if you scaled a single I…

"Twitter encourages and amplifies bad behavior while inhibiting intelligent and thoughtful conversation."

Ok. So, how is Twitter unique here? How often do you read an intelligent and thoughtful article in your local newspaper? Doesn't your local cable news channel choose to focus on the 'bad' instead of the 'good'? Or are you living in some alternate universe?

Re: The End of Big Twitter

#74

Post by teh_klev »

ivraatiems wrote: post #64
A_COMPUTER wrote: post #39

Twitter is an optimal conduit for narcissism, trolling, harassment, mobbing, astroturfing, demagoguery, and manufacturing consent. The medium shapes the discourse, and Twitter encourages and amplifies bad behavior while inhibiting intelligent and thoughtful conversation. Even if it didn't architecturally push you toward this behavior the scale alone enables every bad behavior you would expect if you scaled a single I…

Based on my experiences with Twitter, this is totally correct, but you forgot one key part: echo chamber. In addition to doing all that you describe, Twitter also encourages you to ignore anyone claiming otherwise - somebody has a difference of opinion? Block and unfollow! I'm pretty anti-social-media in general, but Twitter is definitely among the worst.

Twitter and Facebook have been pretty effective for Yes campaigners in the Scottish Independence referendum. It's taken the No Thanks folks by surprise by how effectively it's being used.

Social media can be a force for good under certain circumstances.

Re: The End of Big Twitter

#75

Post by welly »

nsxwolf wrote: post #19

One of the advantages of being a total nobody is that I don't have these sorts of problems with Twitter.

I use twitter for one thing and one thing only - moaning at companies, ie. supermarkets, train companies, airlines etc. who have given me bad service. They're surprisingly responsive.

Other than that, I find twitter little to no use at all. There are better places to get my news from (RSS).

Re: The End of Big Twitter

#76

Post by ducuboy »

ealdent wrote: post #72
A_COMPUTER wrote: post #39

Twitter is an optimal conduit for narcissism, trolling, harassment, mobbing, astroturfing, demagoguery, and manufacturing consent. The medium shapes the discourse, and Twitter encourages and amplifies bad behavior while inhibiting intelligent and thoughtful conversation. Even if it didn't architecturally push you toward this behavior the scale alone enables every bad behavior you would expect if you scaled a single I…

I would argue that you are correct, but I wouldn't limit it to Twitter. There are many crackhouses -- even hacker news can be one (though thankfully, our junkies remain civil and politely die in a corner where no one sees them). It is never as easy to be inhuman to someone as when hiding behind the veil of apparent anonymity.

Hacker News got big as well, judging by what's popular here - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8252323

Re: The End of Big Twitter

#77

Post by roc »

blackaspen wrote: post #73
A_COMPUTER wrote: post #39

Twitter is an optimal conduit for narcissism, trolling, harassment, mobbing, astroturfing, demagoguery, and manufacturing consent. The medium shapes the discourse, and Twitter encourages and amplifies bad behavior while inhibiting intelligent and thoughtful conversation. Even if it didn't architecturally push you toward this behavior the scale alone enables every bad behavior you would expect if you scaled a single I…

"Twitter encourages and amplifies bad behavior while inhibiting intelligent and thoughtful conversation." Ok. So, how is Twitter unique here? How often do you read an intelligent and thoughtful article in your local newspaper? Doesn't your local cable news channel choose to focus on the 'bad' instead of the 'good'? Or are you living in some alternate universe?

The 140 character limit and general focus on brevity encourages people to drop specificity and shift to bold proclamations and absolutes.[1] This is guaranteed to cause miscommunication and hurt feelings. The resulting arguments are impossible to effectively reason out at 140 characters. And even if you do work it out in another medium (email, phone call, etc) - the re-tweeting spreads the old arguments like wildfire.

[1] When the concept "some people in Philadelphia suck" hits a character limit, what gets removed? Exactly. Now someone who's just had a bad experience with a particular person is shouting to the world "people in Philadelphia suck". And having said that, in that way, the larger scope is re-inforced into the writer's brain and tied to their ego and pride. Cue screamfest.

Re: The End of Big Twitter

#78

Post by ducuboy »

blackaspen wrote: post #73
A_COMPUTER wrote: post #39

Twitter is an optimal conduit for narcissism, trolling, harassment, mobbing, astroturfing, demagoguery, and manufacturing consent. The medium shapes the discourse, and Twitter encourages and amplifies bad behavior while inhibiting intelligent and thoughtful conversation. Even if it didn't architecturally push you toward this behavior the scale alone enables every bad behavior you would expect if you scaled a single I…

"Twitter encourages and amplifies bad behavior while inhibiting intelligent and thoughtful conversation." Ok. So, how is Twitter unique here? How often do you read an intelligent and thoughtful article in your local newspaper? Doesn't your local cable news channel choose to focus on the 'bad' instead of the 'good'? Or are you living in some alternate universe?

Beyond good and evil, the problem is actually the noise.

The simple Follow/Unfollow button is not enough since Twitter got mainstream. You have to do a lot of manual maintenance to keep your stream relevant and interesting.

Re: The End of Big Twitter

#79

Post by chatmasta »

ivraatiems wrote: post #64
A_COMPUTER wrote: post #39

Twitter is an optimal conduit for narcissism, trolling, harassment, mobbing, astroturfing, demagoguery, and manufacturing consent. The medium shapes the discourse, and Twitter encourages and amplifies bad behavior while inhibiting intelligent and thoughtful conversation. Even if it didn't architecturally push you toward this behavior the scale alone enables every bad behavior you would expect if you scaled a single I…

Based on my experiences with Twitter, this is totally correct, but you forgot one key part: echo chamber. In addition to doing all that you describe, Twitter also encourages you to ignore anyone claiming otherwise - somebody has a difference of opinion? Block and unfollow! I'm pretty anti-social-media in general, but Twitter is definitely among the worst.

Hacker News is as much, if not more, of an echo chamber as any Twitter newsfeed is. At least on Twitter you can choose your echo chamber, and if you desire, even fill it with opinions from diametrically opposite sides of an issue. You can simultaneously follow @GoldmanSachs and #OccupyWallStreet, for instance. You have no choice on Hacker News, except to subscribe to an echo chamber generated by some nebulous algorithm subject to in determinant cognitive trickery.

The reason Hacker News and Twitter enjoy such high engagement rates is precisely because they are echo chambers. Groups tend to share opinions and tastes, so naturally enjoy the same clusters of reading material. I enjoy the echo chamber at HN, because the opinions of the group that composes it are important to me. I haven't been able to hook myself on Twitter, but I imagine it's because I haven't found the right echo chamber yet.

Re: The End of Big Twitter

#80

Post by XorNot »

jarek wrote: post #46
XorNot wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should have a Twitter account. I have a Twitter account under my real name with a keyboard smash password, just to ensure no one else can take it. Same with Facebook.

Then someone registers @XNot with name XorNot and you're no better off.

Having name providence provides some amount of deniability though. If there's multiple accounts with the same or similar then it takes deliberate effort to create mistaken identity.
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