Maybe others know of academic or other descriptions of this shift; I know that it has been observed by people who study engagement on behalf of news organizations. Also Meta and X leaders have referred to it
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I hope this is a shift in thinking for many people to find a place that is had a different mojo than meta and other websites. Yes, I have run into several scammers and a few trolls already. I reported them and/or block them. I was a moderator on other websites in medicine. Spotting trolls easy.
One of my straight friends went "why is my threads/fbook nothing but hot girls" and I know mine personally is all hot guys. They just decided at some point to use the insta algo for all 3 platforms.
My non-conspiracy take is that sharing a mainstream media link to an article by a journalist is less “involving” than everyday Joes and Janets screaming back and forth and increasing engagement.
Bingo. Really says something about us. They're just giving us what we seemingly want, which also makes them mula. It's not right & it's a huge freaking problem.
They own the IP rights to what you post on their platform. They get the search traffic. They keep your attention on their site instead of losing it to an external site.
They want to keep people on their sites, looking at advertising. That's their business model. Clearly Musk now has other more explicitly political goals too
The trick for media is to keep whatever the issue is virtually TIED. This maintains interest (and clicks). An election that should have never been close was "neck and neck" at all times. This, among other things, is how truth gets manipulated.
Good journalists and media outlets should stop lending it credibility by remaining on the platform. They are the only intellectually honest people still there and might as well just be talking to each other.
perhaps megalomaniacal billionaires should not be allowed to OWN our social media 'town squares' and manipulate public discourse & opinion to serve their Machiavellian interests. 🤷♂️
Hahahah! That's CRAZY! The only way THAT could work is if we decide collectively that money no longer has value, and restructured our entire society to...
there are two journalists I subscribe to WaPo for -- both are here. You can at least go from here to read their pieces as they link them Catherine Rampell and Philip Bump
I started giving The Guardian money this month - gotta keep them in business! They've been a go-to since 9/11, though I didn't rely on them as much as I do now.
WaPo and NYT "journalism" has been very disappointing for a while.
Some of twitter code is on github last I looked. Yes, the algorithm is being manipulated constantly. Posts with links are downgraded. Blocks don't work anymore. Advanced Search is broken. Rightwing accounts are heavily promoted. "Following" tab recently broke.
I’ve heard the term ‘mass media migration’ used to describe things like the shift from MySpace to FB and print to digital, etc. It’s fascinating and I have been waiting with open arms 🤗 for this shift. Thank you @bsky.app 💙
Bluesky could be benefitting from an over-concentration of superusers. Now unfiltered by algorithms Bluesky is behaving like early internet traffic patterns in spreading traffic.
I would love to see proper research on the subject. A hypothesis that I've lingered on is: intellectuals are the first to ditch X since the "Twitter" shift began. These are the folks much more likely to engage with "real journalism".
Perhaps that answers the Meta/Threads questions as well 🤔
That law is still stupid though. Charging a tax on linking to news was an obvious bad idea from the start but Murdoch & co can't let go of it and want to hurt tech companies for "stealing their ad revenue" (not what happened) so they keep lobbying for it
One national newspaper is now paying for links on FB by sponsoring (advertising) links to their stories. This is another way. How does the rest of the world support news on FB?
Mark Zuckerberg was invited to witness to a parliamentary committee regarding this matter. He never appeared. I'm no expert; FB response is annoying, we do an end run with photos and broken links.
Professional social manager for an think tank here - it’s absolutely true, not just traffic but even the visibility of posts with links is kneecapped on most platforms these days
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The Canadian government and Meta are having a difference of opinion.
They do this by encouraging people to post things directly to platform and deprioritising links to places.
2) I am of a science and medicine background but I’ll look if there are any articles
I still have access to research databases. I'll search and see what I can find.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/11/27/musk-x-throttle-links-threads-bluesky/
(Edited)
https://wapo.st/4i7ulc6
See @carolecadwalla.bsky.social posts
WaPo and NYT "journalism" has been very disappointing for a while.
Why should I give my money to a man richer than God who folds to an authoritarian?
Trump sniffing the air “I smell fear!”
https://archive.is/32kEj
Algorithms rewards engagement not truths
Perhaps that answers the Meta/Threads questions as well 🤔
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/online-news-act-meta-facebook-1.6885634
If you want to make them contribute to news funding, use a regular revenue tax and fund the news via a government fund from that.
Taxing links is harmful