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I don't think it's as innocent as "loves the fame" ... there is a greater theme in our society regarding the influence of public opinion; and how influencers ar

I don't think it's as innocent as "loves the fame" ... there is a greater theme in our society regarding the influence of public opinion; and how influencers are abusing that in politics/positions of power. The media of course enables it, which I think is a sign of a growing, large scale, rational fragility across society (demand controls their publication, there is a large demand for this type of information)

actuator 6y ago
FB gets criticized a lot in HN but Twitter isn't. IMO Twitter is absolutely the worst platform for things like these because of the prevalent mob culture. It is very easy to organise people using your influence and they can easily hound out any dissenting opinion. I will have to search for them now but I saw people doxxing some of the current Googler's identities if they agreed with the resignation. This is extremely toxic. Even the old media seems to love Twitter and it escapes FB level of scrutiny.
- prodtorok 6y ago
  Completely agree. I'd say, historically speaking, that Facebook became a constrained negative environment while twitter was more of an open, entertaining, and free environment (and less tied to actual life/society). This isn't the case any longer. Facebook is now far less egregious & more of a soft environment to socialize with people you personally know. Bubbles/pockets of societal function and some large-influence which is lesser enabled than the prior. Twitter is a platform that justifies large societal movement through "influential information". (I don't have the best english to articulate here)
- Reedx 6y ago
  That's because Twitter is the platform of journalists.
  - bigbubba 6y ago
    Facebook radicalized weird uncles, but twitter radicalized journalists.
- raxxorrax 6y ago
  Mob culture didn't start with Twitter though. It was just not as effective before social media when people were anonymous. At least in most cases. Now social media sites encourage people being public figures, which is an insanely bad advice for the vast majority of individuals.
jasonwatkinspdx 6y ago
Maybe instead of labeling it "rational fragility" you should take some effort to understand what people are actually saying.

actuator 6y ago

FB gets criticized a lot in HN but Twitter isn't. IMO Twitter is absolutely the worst platform for things like these because of the prevalent mob culture. It is very easy to organise people using your influence and they can easily hound out any dissenting opinion. I will have to search for them now but I saw people doxxing some of the current Googler's identities if they agreed with the resignation. This is extremely toxic. Even the old media seems to love Twitter and it escapes FB level of scrutiny.

prodtorok 6y ago
Completely agree. I'd say, historically speaking, that Facebook became a constrained negative environment while twitter was more of an open, entertaining, and free environment (and less tied to actual life/society). This isn't the case any longer. Facebook is now far less egregious & more of a soft environment to socialize with people you personally know. Bubbles/pockets of societal function and some large-influence which is lesser enabled than the prior. Twitter is a platform that justifies large societal movement through "influential information". (I don't have the best english to articulate here)
Reedx 6y ago
That's because Twitter is the platform of journalists.
- bigbubba 6y ago
  Facebook radicalized weird uncles, but twitter radicalized journalists.
raxxorrax 6y ago
Mob culture didn't start with Twitter though. It was just not as effective before social media when people were anonymous. At least in most cases. Now social media sites encourage people being public figures, which is an insanely bad advice for the vast majority of individuals.

jasonwatkinspdx 6y ago

Maybe instead of labeling it "rational fragility" you should take some effort to understand what people are actually saying.