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https://theconversation.com/social-media-can-in-fact-be-made-better-research-shows-it-is-possible-to-reward-users-for-sharing-accurate-information-instead-of-misinformation-209676>
"Is social media designed to reward people for acting badly?
The answer is clearly yes, given that the reward structure on social media
platforms relies on popularity, as indicated by the number of responses – likes
and comments – a post receives from other users. Black-box algorithms then
further amplify the spread of posts that have attracted attention.
Sharing widely read content, by itself, isn’t a problem. But it becomes a
problem when attention-getting, controversial content is prioritized by design.
Given the design of social media sites, users form habits to automatically
share the most engaging information regardless of its accuracy and potential
harm. Offensive statements, attacks on out groups and false news are amplified,
and misinformation often spreads further and faster than the truth.
We are two social psychologists and a marketing scholar. Our research,
presented at the 2023 Nobel Prize Summit, shows that social media actually has
the ability to create user habits to share high-quality content. After a few
tweaks to the reward structure of social media platforms, users begin to share
information that is accurate and fact-based.
The problem with habit-driven misinformation-sharing is significant. Facebook’s
own research shows that being able to share already shared content with a
single click drives misinformation. Thirty-eight percent of views of text
misinformation and 65% of views of photographic misinformation come from
content that has been reshared twice, meaning a share of a share of a share of
an original post. The biggest sources of misinformation, such as Steve Bannon’s
War Room, exploit social media’s popularity optimization to promote
controversy and misinformation beyond their immediate audience."
Via Esther Schindler.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
