Read on Twitter
Omds I think I’ve cracked the code to social media
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😳" title="Flushed face" aria-label="Emoji: Flushed face">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😳" title="Flushed face" aria-label="Emoji: Flushed face">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😳" title="Flushed face" aria-label="Emoji: Flushed face"> Lemme explain https://twitter.com/notreallyruth/status/1262809169259888640">https://twitter.com/notreally...
(Ok so of course, I’ve not cracked any code so pls don’t my Humanitarian award just yet) but basically, you know how we (humans) believe Fake News so much more/easier than we used to & it looks like everyone is just a mindless follower of things??
Cool. Social media apps basically have reduced the judgement process that we usually would go through when we’re faced w/info we need to make a decision on.
Before social media, we mainly processed information from
- Word of Mouth
- TV
- Newspapers
- Posters irl
- Radio
None of these mediums demanded an immediate reaction from you, all the time. So even when u came to ur judgement, you didn’t have to act on it immediately.
- Word of Mouth
- TV
- Newspapers
- Posters irl
- Radio
None of these mediums demanded an immediate reaction from you, all the time. So even when u came to ur judgement, you didn’t have to act on it immediately.
...so? Well reactions to info is basically what social media apps thrive off of. Which is great. Info is processed faster & to a larger audience. But there’s less screening on Social Media than the other mediums listed above
So already we process more information from less credible sources bcus on SM there’s little to no screening on whether it’s fact or fiction. When with
Word of mouth: we don’t trust just anybody
TV, Radio: there’s some regulation to what they produce
Newspapers etc etc
Word of mouth: we don’t trust just anybody
TV, Radio: there’s some regulation to what they produce
Newspapers etc etc
On SM any & everyone can make an account & be anything & everything they want it to be.
But add the fact that all these apps enourage us to react & act a lot faster bcus of the design functions i.e. RT, Share, Like buttons are visible on every piece of info displayed
But add the fact that all these apps enourage us to react & act a lot faster bcus of the design functions i.e. RT, Share, Like buttons are visible on every piece of info displayed
You now have a faster Judgement Process + way more Info from sources that can’t be screened for credibility = fake news easily thrives, everybody jumps on the same thing quickly.
But that doesn’t auto mean we’re all stupid to follow things that aren’t true or we dont agree with?
But that doesn’t auto mean we’re all stupid to follow things that aren’t true or we dont agree with?
Well, yeshttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😂" title="Face with tears of joy" aria-label="Emoji: Face with tears of joy"> kinda...
Basically our mind works on reducing load & working faster=efficiency. Which is why we don’t even read full words but the beginning & last letters & why (partially/hypothetically) when we are overwhelmed we blackout/go numb/forget
Basically our mind works on reducing load & working faster=efficiency. Which is why we don’t even read full words but the beginning & last letters & why (partially/hypothetically) when we are overwhelmed we blackout/go numb/forget
So already we’re trying to reduce how long it takes to process stuff so we can just sort it out in our mind.
Psychologists study this stuff & there’s now loads of Biases we’re aware of that we can manipulate because, in short, our minds are LAZYhttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😂" title="Face with tears of joy" aria-label="Emoji: Face with tears of joy">
Psychologists study this stuff & there’s now loads of Biases we’re aware of that we can manipulate because, in short, our minds are LAZY
Apply that social media now & there’s so many things that can bias our judgements. One of them being the fact that we can see how much something has been RT/https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="❤️" title="Red heart" aria-label="Emoji: Red heart">
Whether we clock it or not, apart from who tweeted it, the amount of RT/Likes influence what we pay attention to
Whether we clock it or not, apart from who tweeted it, the amount of RT/Likes influence what we pay attention to
Already when a tweet has 50 RT/https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="❤️" title="Red heart" aria-label="Emoji: Red heart">/Shares, it’s like 50 ppl saying the same thing to you at once.
50 ppl repeating the same thing is going to
1. Draw your attention
2. If what they’re saying requires u to make a judgement, you’re more likely going to agree w/them bcus no.=power
50 ppl repeating the same thing is going to
1. Draw your attention
2. If what they’re saying requires u to make a judgement, you’re more likely going to agree w/them bcus no.=power
Ok sociologists will know that minority influence is a thing but on social media, that doesn’t hold the same power most of the time.
To conclude:
1. A LOT of information
2. A medium that HIGHLY encourages us to react & act w/everything we see
3. The psych biases used in designing social media
= encourage the increase of Fake News, Bandwagoning & why we mocked @jasonderulo one night then loved him in the AMhttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😂" title="Face with tears of joy" aria-label="Emoji: Face with tears of joy">
1. A LOT of information
2. A medium that HIGHLY encourages us to react & act w/everything we see
3. The psych biases used in designing social media
= encourage the increase of Fake News, Bandwagoning & why we mocked @jasonderulo one night then loved him in the AM
Add the fact that humans aren’t perfect & act out of their imperfection. Social media can get pretty sour really quickly!
Negativity shared becomes negativity multiplied really quickly on here.
Negativity shared becomes negativity multiplied really quickly on here.
Plus our minds adapt quickly so it’s easy to become desensitised to certain kinds of info that would normally, if displayed in real life would actually traumatise us or make us see that it’s not good/fake.
And with that, I bid thishttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🧵" title="Thread" aria-label="Emoji: Thread">adieu! You can send me my Humanitarian award actually, I’m proud of this waffle.
*also forgot to add Books to my list kmthttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😪" title="Sleepy face" aria-label="Emoji: Sleepy face">
*also forgot to add Books to my list kmt
