9 Comments
Aug 11, 2023·edited Aug 11, 2023

Just curious... is active "performative allyship" to boost SEO of an issue/writer/topic that one actively supports wrong? I've been up against so much MAGA/troll farm/AI drivel (such as your illustration), which I ignore or mute. I no longer respond, having ceased arguments long ago (cue G.B.S. opining about pig wrestling). However when I "like" a tweet/thread/post, I sometimes see its reach extended in real time, so I persist to engage accounts I support or admire, regularly giving a "like" just to have it shown to more humans. Of course, I tell myself that MY causes are just, my comment standards high, and my sense of humor irrepressible. As for farming for clicks, well let's face it, content providers deserve to be paid. And as MAGA conveniently forgets, clicks are not actually votes.

BTW Love your columns!!

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First time I’m using Notes and I can’t favorite this one. Seems to work on others. Maybe I have subscription deficit disorder.

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author

Hmmm that’s odd. Let me see if it changes if I post to notes.

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Isn't banning the account which create such content actually harm then plus avoid seeing their future content?

As far as I know, in most networks they measure it and penalize highly banned creators

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author

Twitter isn’t banning these accounts. It’s rewarding them.

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Aug 9, 2023Liked by Caroline Orr Bueno

I'm not taking about Twitter banning them, I'm talking about each one of us as users of Twitter (or every other social network)

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I see. Well, yes, this would work in theory. But the problem is that there's an incentive on both sides of this -- i.e., there's an incentive for people to engage with outrage bait because it results in engagement for their own account and positive reinforcement from their social network, and it's a way of signaling one's group affiliation. The whole reward system on social media is broken.

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Aug 9, 2023Liked by Caroline Orr Bueno

You do need to block them rather than engage or you just amplify them. But it's not enough.

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author

Agreed, this type of problem calls for a higher-level solution. Unfortunately, we can't solve it with individual actions. We can have an impact, but long-term change requires changing the entire reward system on social media.

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