Imagine if it turned out that, like, 90% of twitter interactions were just bots and we 10% didn't know it. Then cut to some malevolent asshole laughing maniacally in the background with a comic book bubble that said, "hahahaha you all were the easiest to control." Creepy, right?
-
Show this thread
-
Of course, it takes way way way less than 90% to manipulate what we talk about and what we perceive in a powerful way. And it doesn't even require malevolence. Social media produces out-of-reality samples.
3 replies 1 retweet 14 likesShow this thread -
Replying to @generativist
Twitter's fascinating because we have so much control over what we see, and other than Trends, there's no clear way for out-of-network conversations to cross over. I started in a techie network that bled into politics in 2016. /1
1 reply 0 retweets 1 like -
Replying to @complexifire @generativist
Complexifire Retweeted Complexifire
Not just the obvious political divide and the various professions’ silos, but the different topic areas, sports, music, TV… There are communities around Twitter for porn and if you’re like most of us in these networks, you don’t ever see it day to day /2https://twitter.com/complexifire/status/1097985775709368321?s=20 …
Complexifire added,
Complexifire @complexifireReplying to @Intrinsic29The way that pr*n networks have always walked among us here, yet unseen, feels like a movie version of a spiritual/ghost plain. Squeeze 10x as many ghosts into Twitter and it’s still only going to be Haley Joel Osment and Whoopi Goldberg that see them.1 reply 0 retweets 1 like -
Replying to @complexifire @generativist
Single people who don't use it as a dating site, but where performative sexual tension is palpable. Have you ever seen this? For a time I was looped in via a "resistance" connection to this whole community of 1000s who see it as a place to say "get over here and rub my back!" /3
1 reply 0 retweets 1 like -
Replying to @complexifire @generativist
not to anyone in particular, but an imaginary date. It plays out like dating advice, but instead of "you should do X for her", they say "X for me" to Twitter at large. And then they talk in shorthand expecting everyone to know same names and have the same conception of Twitter./4
1 reply 0 retweets 1 like -
Replying to @complexifire @generativist
And as far as I know, there's no way to even know how many silos there are! Maybe you have ways with the tools you have. But when you think "random TV star has more followers than everyone in my networks put together", it drives home how much we don't ever see out there. /x
1 reply 0 retweets 1 like -
Replying to @complexifire
Yes! Trends do a lot of cross-boundary breaking. As does other forms of media. But I think the only one who can get really good clustering insights is twitter. (Although, I want to understand it a lot better.)
1 reply 0 retweets 1 like -
Replying to @generativist
Not that you asked, but I couldn't help thinking about how those very different, and possibly difficult to observe, communities might impact your work, same as the "90% bots interacting" model could be playing out under the surface and we'd only ever see the tip of the iceberg
1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
I *think* they do. Like, trolling communities are well-partitioned in some ways...until they find raid targets.
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.