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I’m not sure why Twitter bots matter, and I assume the only point is to discredit the argument of people against lockdowns. Real people have also been out prot

I’m not sure why Twitter bots matter, and I assume the only point is to discredit the argument of people against lockdowns. Real people have also been out protesting the lockdowns, in the real world, not on Twitter. People were legitimately upset, rightfully so, when protestors were showing up with guns in Michigan.

dathinab 6y ago
It matters if it means that much less people then believed do protest. I don't know if it does mean it, it could, but it also could not. It also matters because it means some people try to manipulate what is perceived as the "Twitter public" opinion.
- 082349872349872 6y ago
  That's why one never counts "twitter public", but real protestors. A small silver lining to coronavirus is that crowd size estimation is much easier when the crowd is on a 2m lattice. Edit: not very useful these days, but still of possible interest: http://www.gkstill.com/Support/crowd-density/100sm/Density1.html http://www.gkstill.com/Support/crowd-density/100sm/Density1....
  - Simulacra 6y ago
    I use to hear a lot they in customer service one angry customer might represent only one person, but more than one on an issue could possibly point to an exponentially larger dissatisfied group. People who complain versus people who do not, people who call versus email, etc. I do not know if this is still accurate.
    - 082349872349872 6y ago
      I'd agree in general. On the other hand, astroturfing is much older that TWTR (or even AstroTurf), eg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torches_of_Freedom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torches_of_Freedom or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claque https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claque Somewhere I'd read a book on propaganda by a fellow who produced it in ww2 and finished his introduction with biblical examples of the main techniques.
12xo 6y ago
People are influenced by the words and appearance of others... If people think that there are many other "supporters" of something, they'll be far more likely to support said thing. You are as influenced by this as anyone.
annadane 6y ago
Seriously? Why do you even bother commenting, this is such an obviously ridiculous point of view
- isoskeles 6y ago
  Lol, okay.
  - dang 6y ago
    "Don't feed egregious comments by replying; flag them instead." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- dang 6y ago
  Personal attacks and name-calling will get you banned on HN. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and sticking to the rules when posting here, we'd be grateful.

dathinab 6y ago

It matters if it means that much less people then believed do protest. I don't know if it does mean it, it could, but it also could not. It also matters because it means some people try to manipulate what is perceived as the "Twitter public" opinion.

082349872349872 6y ago
That's why one never counts "twitter public", but real protestors. A small silver lining to coronavirus is that crowd size estimation is much easier when the crowd is on a 2m lattice. Edit: not very useful these days, but still of possible interest: http://www.gkstill.com/Support/crowd-density/100sm/Density1.html http://www.gkstill.com/Support/crowd-density/100sm/Density1....
- Simulacra 6y ago
  I use to hear a lot they in customer service one angry customer might represent only one person, but more than one on an issue could possibly point to an exponentially larger dissatisfied group. People who complain versus people who do not, people who call versus email, etc. I do not know if this is still accurate.
  - 082349872349872 6y ago
    I'd agree in general. On the other hand, astroturfing is much older that TWTR (or even AstroTurf), eg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torches_of_Freedom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torches_of_Freedom or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claque https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claque Somewhere I'd read a book on propaganda by a fellow who produced it in ww2 and finished his introduction with biblical examples of the main techniques.

12xo 6y ago

People are influenced by the words and appearance of others... If people think that there are many other "supporters" of something, they'll be far more likely to support said thing. You are as influenced by this as anyone.

annadane 6y ago

Seriously? Why do you even bother commenting, this is such an obviously ridiculous point of view

isoskeles 6y ago
Lol, okay.
- dang 6y ago
  "Don't feed egregious comments by replying; flag them instead." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
dang 6y ago
Personal attacks and name-calling will get you banned on HN. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and sticking to the rules when posting here, we'd be grateful.