2/ This is pretty abstract so consider cable news. Some segments are easy to produce and engaging and fit in a particular time slot. Consequently, absent coordination, everyone synchronizes anyway for emergent reasons. The end result is overexposure to and sync on one issue.
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3/ The problem is it's hard to coordinate without an incentive.
@CNN doesn't have mind-numbingly vapid panels because they convey information well. They do so because it's vivid and engaging, which satisfies their need for advertisers. (Another part of the structure.)Show this thread -
4/ I don't know how to solve that problem. But, the same problem exists in social media, an even more bottom-up way. Trending topics -- both algorithmic ones and purely perceptual ones -- induce a desire for self-expression on that topic. It's the same bad allocation problem.
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5/ This problem doesn't have a social solution. Tweeting that it is bad to tweet about something doesn't even inhibit it. "Don't think about the pink elephant" in another form. It still hooks into the whole viral attention mechanism.
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6/ On social media, the poor allocation of attention *is* a technical problem. But, other than chronological timelines -- which only partially mediates the negative effects --
@Twitter hasn't expressed any desire to fix the problem -- because, essentially, it's their product.Show this thread
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