Super OT: Threads v. Twitter

[johnson86-1]

I’ve never been much of a Twitter person, but I will occasionally look at a tweet posted here or at some Blog I read and it’s usually a mix of semi reasonable tweets and then just moronic or troll posts, with the reasonable tweets being maybe 10-25% of the tweets depending on the topic.

Instagram has started putting screen caps of “threads” in my feed, and they are 100% headache inducing dumb with a far left slant and 99% of the responses are too.

So my question is whether Meta is promoting the dumbest tweets possible with the opposite political leanings of the user? I think that’s happening because they think showing users infuriatingly stupid stuff is even better for engagement than showing users stuff that reinforces their opinions.

The alternative would be that it’s 100% a selection effect because the most crazy progressives were the ones that wanted to leave Twitter because of they were mad Elon Twitter is against throttling or censoring tweets with right wing/conservative perspective and those are the ones that actually started using threads rather than just opening an account and largely forgetting about it.

 

[HailStout]

What, maybe 20 posts before this goes off the rails?

 

[mcdawg22]

I don’t know how much Russia infiltrates Twitter but it’s pretty absurd. Typically 4 out of the 5 recommended videos on it are pro Putin videos. It’s not an algorithm either because if it was what I watch it would be wrestling, college football, or people doing dumb ****. I don’t ever look at war footage or anything to do with Russia/Ukraine

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

I don’t know how much Russia infiltrates Twitter but it’s pretty absurd. Typically 4 out of the 5 recommended videos on it are pro Putin videos. It’s not an algorithm either because if it was what I watch it would be wrestling, college football, or people doing dumb ****. I don’t ever look at war footage or anything to do with Russia/Ukraine

I stick to the people I follow and don’t stray too much outside that but the bots in Twitter are all over the place.

 

[mcdawg22]

I stick to the people I follow and don’t stray too much outside that but the bots in Twitter are all over the place.

Yeah me too. I even mute friends that get too political either way. Twitter is real time news, Mostly sports, and comedy for me.

 

[The Peeper]

Twitter is whatever YOU make it. I ONLY follow news sources I know and trust, a few weather accounts, some BBQ guys, a few sports reporters, some MSU fans, and that's about it maybe 50 accounts total. I never see anything liberal, Russians, bot trolls, Ole Miss crap, etc because I don't follow any of Twitters suggestions, i.e. their "groups chosen just for you" , "trending", etc, only what I want to not them

 

[Guy From Gulfport]

Twitter is best when sharing something in real time. Like when when witnessing a 4th and 25 made for a first down.

If you learn how the Mute & List functions work on Twitter, it gives it the far superior experience. I live on Twitter, and I never have to see anything with a bias I don't like.

That may mean muting political things to you. But that also means one can filter out posts containing such fine terms as Rebels, Grove, Ole Miss, & other such vilifying terms.

Creating lists of accounts, gives you a streamlined way to browse certain subjects. For example, have all your favorite State fans in one list, media in one, and coaches and players in another. You can carry that out as far as you like.

 

[horshack.sixpack]

I don’t know how much Russia infiltrates Twitter but it’s pretty absurd. Typically 4 out of the 5 recommended videos on it are pro Putin videos. It’s not an algorithm either because if it was what I watch it would be wrestling, college football, or people doing dumb ****. I don’t ever look at war footage or anything to do with Russia/Ukraine

If you had any idea how much online disinformation that Russia was behind it would shock you.

 

[mstateglfr]

So my question is whether Meta is promoting the dumbest tweets possible with the opposite political leanings of the user? I think that’s happening
Because they showing people infuriatingly stupid stuff is even better for engagement than showing them stuff that reinforces their opinions.

Pretty sure the tech socials don't appreciate you exposing the actual motive.

 

[johnson86-1]

Pretty sure the tech socials don't appreciate you exposing the actual motive.

I guess I'm just shocked they would be that blatant about it.

The other thing that is interesting is that I don't do anything political on Facebook or Instagram. I'm not members of any political groups, don't like political posts, really don't do much of anything but occasionally scroll and like things from certain friends. But they obviously have enough of a profile to be able to predict what kind of idiocy would be most annoying to me. I'm sure a lot of people that spend their time on there do end up letting it ruin their day and do paint the hand picked idiocy from Meta as representative of "the other side". Never would have predicted just how destructive a force social media is.

 

[paindonthurt]

I don’t know how much Russia infiltrates Twitter but it’s pretty absurd. Typically 4 out of the 5 recommended videos on it are pro Putin videos. It’s not an algorithm either because if it was what I watch it would be wrestling, college football, or people doing dumb ****. I don’t ever look at war footage or anything to do with Russia/Ukraine

I don’t see any videos of Russia? I mean I see some posts about Ukraine and Russia but I don’t see a bunch of pro Russia stuff.

I do see some legit people saying we shouldn’t send billions and billions to Ukraine. That ain’t pro Russia.

but I do see a lot of bots and most of them seem to be crypto or chicks trying to slide into my DMs to eventually try and scam me into crypto.

 

[kired]

Twitter is whatever YOU make it. I ONLY follow news sources I know and trust, a few weather accounts, some BBQ guys, a few sports reporters, some MSU fans, and that's about it maybe 50 accounts total. I never see anything liberal, Russians, bot trolls, Ole Miss crap, etc because I don't follow any of Twitters suggestions, i.e. their "groups chosen just for you" , "trending", etc, only what I want to not them

I stay on the "following" tab and never venture to the "for you" section. And never read the comments unless you're prepared for it...

 

[HailStout]

This is pretty much Twitter

 

[dorndawg]

My Dad, speaking on social media: "Biggest bunch of **** I've seen in my entire life".

 

[HailStout]

 

[mstateglfr]

I guess I'm just shocked they would be that blatant about it.

The other thing that is interesting is that I don't do anything political on Facebook or Instagram. I'm not members of any political groups, don't like political posts, really don't do much of anything but occasionally scroll and like things from certain friends. But they obviously have enough of a profile to be able to predict what kind of idiocy would be most annoying to me. I'm sure a lot of people that spend their time on there do end up letting it ruin their day and do paint the hand picked idiocy from Meta as representative of "the other side". Never would have predicted just how destructive a force social media is.

I just fully agreed with your earlier comment since I see it constantly on socials as well as youtube. Heck, especially youtube since its all video and the suggested videos continue to further select based on what you watch in a viewing session.
I watch some random video and suddenly a couple Jordan Peterson videos pop up in the suggested/next list of videos. I click on one and now a couple more Peterson videos are in the list alongside a few Ben Shapiro 'college takedown' videos. I click on one of those videos and suddenly the entire list of suggested/next videos is full of 'MTG owned this lib testifying' and 'Watch as Hawley destroys this fragile lib's mind'.

Meanwhile, all I subscribe to is some apolitical pages on IG and youtube. What I follow on both are some random small bike brands out of Japan, niche bike tech pages, and various songs I cant just get on my streaming service.
Its crazy to see how quickly the curation to keep me engaged and watching actually happens. Click on 2 videos and boom- its entirely outrage based videos that are set to play one after the other and keep me glued to the screen.
And the stuff that is pushed, and I regretfully then watch, is mind-numbingly stupid.