4 ms·
From the moment that news outlets started reporting on things said on Twitter years ago, I assumed this would happen. With enough bots, you gain the ability to
by brightball 8y ago
From the moment that news outlets started reporting on things said on Twitter years ago, I assumed this would happen.
With enough bots, you gain the ability to create any narrative you want. Create story, then create the image that you want the supporters of one side to have, followed by the image for the other side. Use bots and retweets to amplify.
You gain the power to define what's happening culturally if the news reports actually take Twitter trends as what's happening culturally. Create a villian, politicize the villain, popularize / demonize websites, etc.
An entire Twitter event can be orchestrated to amplify the irrational into a position believed to be popular/main stream.
The only recourse is to treat Twitter just like any other message board...and ignore it.
- dvtrn 8y agoThe only recourse is to treat Twitter just like any other message board...and ignore it. The cynic in me says this will never happen for the same reason Twitter even made it into the mainstream in the first place: star power. As long as celebs roost on twitter, the press not be will be right behind to gather the fallen feathers.
- komali2 8y agoThis almost makes me wonder if "Verified" accounts is a step in the wrong direction. Imagine a twitter where you actually have no way of knowing whether an account is "real" or not. Perhaps people then would take it far less seriously, and the only safe approach for a celebrity to take would be to say "we don't use Twitter" via other channels. Well, then again, that would be Twitter shooting itself in the foot.
- dvtrn 8y agoThis almost makes me wonder if "Verified" accounts is a step in the wrong direction. I've had similar thoughts. My account is "verified", because it was pretty easy to get that blue tick mark. Make my tweets open, and...that was pretty much it. Just wait around a while for the review process. Unknown if that process is more difficult or involved nowadays, but when I did it? I just asked and they gave.
- ghrifter 8y agoHell I spin and create narratives on Reddit all the time. Sometimes for fun, sometimes for intrigue to see how far I can get pushing some ironical bigoted thing to real people. However, with Poe's Law, I can never know if they are just playing along with me, or sincerely believe the bullshit I'm typing.
- dlivingston 8y agoThe engagement of user responses seems to have no bearing on whether a news article will embed them. I cannot count the times I have seen some CNN, Business Insider, etc. article talking about the latest Twitter 'controversy', and the tweets they link to have a handful (zero-to-five) of retweets and stars.
- CM30 8y agoYep, so many mountains made out of molehills when the media reports on Twitter (or any other social media site). Now one guy saying something is apparently seen as a 'trend'.
- CM30 8y agoIt also doesn't help that no one seems to 'verify' anything anymore, especially when social media 'sources' are concerned. So, so many hoaxes make their way into the 'media' thanks to Twitter and Reddit that it's kind of ridiculous. In the past there was at least some attempt to check the facts behind a story, now it's all a matter of 'let's throw everything at the wall and see what sticks'. I've seen literal fake news sites have stories make their way into print media outlets, half the internet go insane over a blurry photo of a piece of paper and sites take random trolls at their word like its gospel. The standards for proof in the gaming/tech/entertainment/celebrity worlds have basically hit rock bottom already, and the standards for more mainstream sources are steadily heading that way.