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Small share of U.S. adults produce majority of tweets on national politics

people-press.org

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Re: Small share of U.S. adults produce majority of tweets on national politics

#21

Post by endorphone »

buboard wrote: post #16

It's baffling why people think it's OK to retweet political stuff just because everyone else does it. If your profile says "data expert" or anything, why then do i get political propaganda when i follow you? At least have the decency to add "and political commentator" to your profile

Twitter accounts, like many other venues, are generally the person. And while the person might be known to you through one slice of their life (the part that has value to you), that doesn't deny them having other beliefs and opinions. Unless you're paying for their tweets, your opinion on what they should be limited to talking seems remarkably irrelevant.

Having said that, twitter is a profoundly destructive force that is overwhelmingly people just preaching and clucking at each other's cleverness. I absolutely revile it as a platform, but I get and appreciate that it provides value for others.

Re: Small share of U.S. adults produce majority of tweets on national politics

#22

Post by sandworm101 »

pixelmonkey wrote: post #19

See the 1% rule of the internet: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1%25_rule_(Internet_culture) “... only 1% of the users of a website actively create new content, while the other 99% of the participants only lurk.” This is why “social listening” companies (which often amount to “Twitter listening” companies) present a very warped picture of reality when they try to extrapolate general consumer interests from the content…

If twitter is bad now, imagine the horror if the silent 99 start speaking up. 1% is more than enough.

Re: Small share of U.S. adults produce majority of tweets on national politics

#23

Post by jariel »

0xcde4c3db wrote: post #10
bradlys wrote: post #6

Not really a surprise - is it? I bet [small-percentage]% of Americans produce [very-large-percentage]% of tech tweets too. Same with sewing tweets. Same with porn tweets. Being very active in politics is either a career choice or a hobby. And very active in this case means talking about it. It's like knowing about celebrity gossip at this point because that's practically what it is for a lot of this stuff.

The most surprising thing to me is the split in age distribution among user base vs. overall tweeting vs. political tweeting. Users 18-49 were 73% of the user base and produced 72% of tweets, but only 27% of political tweets. Users 50+ were only 26% of the user base and produced only 28% of tweets, but 73% of political tweets.

Both the headline fact, and your addendum are interesting, but to me not fully surprising. I found the most surprising tidbit to be:

"Tweets from users who strongly disapprove of Trump are especially prominent: This group generates 80% of all tweets from U.S. adults and 72% of tweets mentioning national politics."

I didn't realise how one-sided Twitter was, but then, maybe that 'makes sense' in hindsight as well.

Re: Small share of U.S. adults produce majority of tweets on national politics

#24

Post by algaeontoast »

People generally, especially in younger generations need to accept that the internet != the real world.

I’ve had a number of friends on both sides of the isle fall into the internet trap of politics, existential dread and dilution. A few to the extent of developing serious mental health problems, even college educated people.

It’s scary to watch this happen to people you know and love. Some might label me, but I enjoy not wasting time following the mainstream media / social media noise.

Re: Small share of U.S. adults produce majority of tweets on national politics

#26

Post by buboard »

endorphone wrote: post #21
buboard wrote: post #16

It's baffling why people think it's OK to retweet political stuff just because everyone else does it. If your profile says "data expert" or anything, why then do i get political propaganda when i follow you? At least have the decency to add "and political commentator" to your profile

Twitter accounts, like many other venues, are generally the person . And while the person might be known to you through one slice of their life (the part that has value to you), that doesn't deny them having other beliefs and opinions. Unless you're paying for their tweets, your opinion on what they should be limited to talking seems remarkably irrelevant. Having said that, twitter is a profoundly destructive force t…

i don't buy this argument. Most prominent people go on twitter for a reason - to disseminate their work or something, the days of salad photos are over. They get something out of it.

Re: Small share of U.S. adults produce majority of tweets on national politics

#28

Post by fortran77 »

modeless wrote: post #11

If you, like me, find the non-political part of Twitter valuable, I have discovered that Twitter has built in filtering tools. It's pretty simple. Each time I see a tweet I dislike, I pick one word from it and add it to my "mute word" list. It's now filled with words like "trump", "liberal", "minister", etc, and now I see interesting technical discussions instead of political trash.

Yes! I am on Twitter and talk to people interested in music performance, computer programming, and math. With judicious following, blocking, and filters, I rarely see anything else.

Re: Small share of U.S. adults produce majority of tweets on national politics

#29

Post by romaaeterna »

Journalism would only be improved if every journalist got off of Twitter tomorrow. It's not representative of mainstream opinion. And the artificially created and cultivated Twitter echo chamber couldn't help but warp anybody's neutrality. Unfortunately, it's still seen as the best way to drive clicks.

Re: Small share of U.S. adults produce majority of tweets on national politics

#30

Post by monetus »

paulpauper wrote: post #15
modeless wrote: post #11

If you, like me, find the non-political part of Twitter valuable, I have discovered that Twitter has built in filtering tools. It's pretty simple. Each time I see a tweet I dislike, I pick one word from it and add it to my "mute word" list. It's now filled with words like "trump", "liberal", "minister", etc, and now I see interesting technical discussions instead of political trash.

brexit, leave, remain, abortion, court, referendum, coalition, parliament, Congress, etc.

It is sad leave and remain have such connotation now... Great, huge, wall; here are some more common words to feel sad about.
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