3 ms·

I got the same results. (Not logged in) I'd guess that these things are "trending" in "engagement" today because they are controversial and antagonistic. My th

I got the same results. (Not logged in) I'd guess that these things are "trending" in "engagement" today because they are controversial and antagonistic. My thinking is it is a problem of misaligned incentives. Twitter benefits from outrage through engagement. The perpetrators of hatred benefit from outrage through division. You and I, we do not benefit from this alignment.

Cthulhu_ 5y ago
That's exactly what I'm thinking; these agitators generate tons of 'engagement' on twitter from both pro- and anti- whatever they're up for, which for Twitter translates to revenue. It's why they didn't ban Trump for all this time until he was no longer president. I mean sure, as president of the US he would get special treatment, but he didn't use the official twitter account of the US presidency, and he caused a lot of issues. But also a lot of engagement for Twitter; I wouldn't be surprised if all the reactions, retweets and responses to his tweets, and the fact half the world news media would jump on top of anything he tweeted, were responsible for a big chunk of Twitter's usage during that period.
prionassembly 5y ago
This kind of discourse sort of exculpates the outraged. People have agency, however imperfect. We've gotten in a rut of blaming platforms for people's behavior -- both assholes that post in social media and brittle-porcelaine people who can't stand this torture. Something needs to be done policy-wise about Twitter and Facebook, but we should also be telling each other to chill the frak out -- and to consider the truths (and every ideology has some truth to it, that's how it acquires verosimilitude and grows) behind the asshole's worldview. Maybe those damn transphobes are looking at some things that we've become blind to.
slg 5y ago
I am logged in and got the same results despite not following anyone close to connected to those tweets. There seems to be something specific about this thread that Twitter is connecting to the conservative side of the trans rights debate.

Cthulhu_ 5y ago

That's exactly what I'm thinking; these agitators generate tons of 'engagement' on twitter from both pro- and anti- whatever they're up for, which for Twitter translates to revenue. It's why they didn't ban Trump for all this time until he was no longer president. I mean sure, as president of the US he would get special treatment, but he didn't use the official twitter account of the US presidency, and he caused a lot of issues. But also a lot of engagement for Twitter; I wouldn't be surprised if all the reactions, retweets and responses to his tweets, and the fact half the world news media would jump on top of anything he tweeted, were responsible for a big chunk of Twitter's usage during that period.

prionassembly 5y ago

This kind of discourse sort of exculpates the outraged. People have agency, however imperfect. We've gotten in a rut of blaming platforms for people's behavior -- both assholes that post in social media and brittle-porcelaine people who can't stand this torture. Something needs to be done policy-wise about Twitter and Facebook, but we should also be telling each other to chill the frak out -- and to consider the truths (and every ideology has some truth to it, that's how it acquires verosimilitude and grows) behind the asshole's worldview. Maybe those damn transphobes are looking at some things that we've become blind to.

slg 5y ago

I am logged in and got the same results despite not following anyone close to connected to those tweets. There seems to be something specific about this thread that Twitter is connecting to the conservative side of the trans rights debate.