book review
I have been doing a lot of dark reading lately on social media, which coincidentally, is why I've been so scarce. I've been revisiting my relationship with how I post online and what sources of media I consume, in the context of troll armies and other afflictions over on birdsite and its brethren.
In that context, I ran across this book: https://www.amazon.com/Messing-Enemy-Clint-Watts-ebook/dp/B072HLRW6Y. While provocative and redundant in its narrative, it provides a fair summary of what's happening to online social fora.
book review
Specifically, it lays out the premise that, in the context of pervasive attempts to create filter bubbles -- both by social media companies trying to divide marketable segments of a population, and by populist opinion leaders and state-sponsored actors trying to push particular narratives -- social media has come unmoored from the sources of truth that normally bind societies together. Instead, these sites are now creating irreconcilable tribes of self-enforcing confirmation bias.
book review
I shy away from calling this a "fake news" problem, because the problem isn't sources of disinformation, but rather the structure of the platforms themselves. And here, the author launches into how adversarial actors -- including incubator fora like 4chan, terrorist organizations, and nation states -- use these ecosystems to push their preferred narratives. Unmoored from other sources of truth, these actors cultivate or create opinion leaders that can weaponize preferred narratives.
book review
So, what is to be done?
Here, the author provides a few cursory suggestions, including policy changes, general preparedness for smear campaigns, and stepping away from sites like Twitter and Facebook entirely and to "rebuild civil society on the ground, not online." I'm inclined to agree, though I think this argument is somewhat extreme, and it ignores the notion of rebuilding these platforms without making them amenable to marketing campaigns and legions of online trolls and bots.
book review
In total: if not a _good_ summary read on this topic, it is a book to pick up to obtain general familiarity with what is happening to Twitter and Facebook. It is also a good postmortem on what to not do with the direction of Mastodon or the administration of particular sites.
It's also a scathing rebuke of algorithmic moderation techniques and the "wisdom of crowds" as a source of knowledge, when a site lacks an amalgamation of experts and firsthand experience.
book review
So, in that context, it may be worth reading by anyone experiencing general weariness towards larger social media sites, while not being able to put a finger on exactly what causes them to be so caustic.
I suspect there is much more to be written on this topic, particularly as folks pull away from Twitter and rebuild primary sourcing methods and good practices in moderation.
Which, in a way, makes me feel good about Mastodon and its forks' future, as these needs are rediscovered.
book review
Also, the author of the book is definitely not a nice person, and there are multiple cases when I wanted to fling the book across the room.
So, be prepared for that. But, I do not doubt his credentials or experience on this topic.
book review
The narrative trips over and self-congratulates itself in several places, detracting from what is otherwise an astute observation. Early adopters of online discussion fora and media still had centralized sources of truth to turn to, be they news sites (ie, via RSS readers) or blogs concentrating expertise. This is not true for the current social media environment, with sites like Reddit, 4chan, Facebook, and Twitter instead choosing to elevate the loudest voices in the room.