4 ms·

He had a good idea before the acquisition which was “authenticate all real humans”. Seems like that’d solve many issues on the platform, but imagine it’d be exp

He had a good idea before the acquisition which was “authenticate all real humans”. Seems like that’d solve many issues on the platform, but imagine it’d be expensive to implement.

dfgiaonio 4y ago
dzader 4y ago
the biggest issue with this plan (and one he certainly realized by now which is why he hasn't solved this problem) is that the majority of users and followers are simply bots or inactive users. as soon as he purges those and everyone's follower count (most notably his) drops by 50-70% everyone will see the platform as dying.
- addled 4y ago
  Seeing that 50-70% drop in accounts up front would have been a better way of introducing the 70% staffing cuts.
waltbosz 4y ago
One automated human verification process that I've seen in the wild: The Bumble dating app has you verify accounts by taking a photo of yourself making a pose. Your account gets verified almost instantly. I'm not sure how it works, presumably some algorithm compares the verification photo to your profile photos. Plus there are probably other data that go into verification beyond the photo. I'm curious how well it would stand up to AI generated profile pictures and a deepfaked verification photo. Another verification process I've seen: When you apply for a loan online, you are challenged to answer questions such as: select from this list of addresses the ones that you lived at, and select from this list of cars that you once used as collateral for a loan. My point being, it's not impossible, but you're right that it won't be cheap. And not everyone on Twitter will be able to take part in automated verification for one reason or another. Plus Twitter depends on free accounts to have enough people at the party. Or at least in the growth days that was important. Maybe it's not a priority anymore.

4 ms·

He had a good idea before the acquisition which was “authenticate all real humans”. Seems like that’d solve many issues on the platform, but imagine it’d be exp

by programmarchy 4y ago

He had a good idea before the acquisition which was “authenticate all real humans”. Seems like that’d solve many issues on the platform, but imagine it’d be expensive to implement.

dfgiaonio 4y ago
dzader 4y ago
the biggest issue with this plan (and one he certainly realized by now which is why he hasn't solved this problem) is that the majority of users and followers are simply bots or inactive users. as soon as he purges those and everyone's follower count (most notably his) drops by 50-70% everyone will see the platform as dying.
- addled 4y ago
  Seeing that 50-70% drop in accounts up front would have been a better way of introducing the 70% staffing cuts.
waltbosz 4y ago
One automated human verification process that I've seen in the wild: The Bumble dating app has you verify accounts by taking a photo of yourself making a pose. Your account gets verified almost instantly. I'm not sure how it works, presumably some algorithm compares the verification photo to your profile photos. Plus there are probably other data that go into verification beyond the photo. I'm curious how well it would stand up to AI generated profile pictures and a deepfaked verification photo. Another verification process I've seen: When you apply for a loan online, you are challenged to answer questions such as: select from this list of addresses the ones that you lived at, and select from this list of cars that you once used as collateral for a loan. My point being, it's not impossible, but you're right that it won't be cheap. And not everyone on Twitter will be able to take part in automated verification for one reason or another. Plus Twitter depends on free accounts to have enough people at the party. Or at least in the growth days that was important. Maybe it's not a priority anymore.