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Twitter suffers one simple problem: it conflates engagement with quality, and rewards people who create "engaging" content, rather than people who create "quali
by brilee 8y ago
Twitter suffers one simple problem: it conflates engagement with quality, and rewards people who create "engaging" content, rather than people who create "quality" content. So the problem isn't in what the users do; it's how Twitter filters the algorithmic feed to bring quality content to the top.
- TangoTrotFox 8y agoUnfortunately in the ad age this is the same for everything. It's the reason you see posts like "Have scientists discovered proof of an alien megastructure?" instead of "Light dimming from distant star system defies conventional explanation." even though I think the later headline is also still quite enthralling. Things that get people clicking and active is what makes the money and so it's what gets optimized for.
- nathan_long 8y agoYou're not wrong, but... Distinguishing "quality" content from "engaging" content does not sound like a simple problem at all. It sounds like one that involves a whole lot of heuristics and opinion. If it were easy, "clickbait" wouldn't be a thing. I would say it is our own human inability to separate "engaging" from "quality" that causes this mess.