• About Us
  • Contact us
  • Editorial Policy
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
Saturday, June 10, 2023
SUBSCRIBE
London Daily Post
  • Home
  • UK
  • World
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Entertainment
  • Lifestyle
  • Sports
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • UK
  • World
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Entertainment
  • Lifestyle
  • Sports
No Result
View All Result
London Daily Post
No Result
View All Result
ADVERTISEMENT

Why Twitter still has those terrible Trends

Editorial Board by Editorial Board
July 28, 2022
in Tech News
Reading Time: 2 mins read
0


So what is important to the world right now? #ClimateScam trended last Friday, leading users to a flood of climate change memes from those who insist it’s a hoax. Earlier this week, “Sodom and Gomorrah” trended in the US, fueled by far-right anti-LGBTQ conspiracy theorists. The term “Satanic Panic” rose soon after, along with the name of Ashli ​​Babbitt, a woman who was killed during the January 6, 2021 coup attempt and has become the focus of conspiracy theories about the circumstances of his death.

It’s hardly new to point out that algorithmic trending lists can amplify bad things to a huge audience. So why does Twitter still have this feature in 2022?

Twitter’s central argument for trends hasn’t changed much since Dorsey’s blog post. It’s a feature, Twitter spokeswoman Lindsay McCallum said in an email, that’s designed to show people what’s happening around the world and on Twitter at any time. When it works best, trends become something akin to online events: “Choco Taco” trending after the ice cream is discontinued prompts others to tweet their own thoughts about it.

Trending is central to the story Twitter wants to tell about itself, says Shireen Mitchell, a technology analyst and founder of Stop Online Violence Against Women, a story about how it captures and serves public conversation. But manipulated trends (even innocuous ones) and amplified extremism in the algorithmically generated trend list undermine that story.

“Twitter keeps trying to make it seem like ‘trends’ are somehow authentic, trendy topics that people are interested in. But in most cases it’s gamification,” he says.

In addition to Twitter’s claims that Trends has an important public function, there’s another reason the feature remains. It’s a source of revenue for the platform: Twitter started selling promoted space on Trends in 2010. Currently, Twitter sells what it calls. Points of acquisition of trends and show ads in search results for trending topics.

On July 28, for example, a sponsored trending topic for a new Christopher Nolan movie was promoted to the top of the US Twitter trending list and in the trending “For You” column personalized

“I don’t think they really think about the actual benefit to their users versus the benefit to their bottom line,” Mitchell says. Twitter declined to comment on its ad program for Trends.





Source link

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Related Posts

Tech News

The Download: a promising new fuel, and why our phones struggle with wildfires

June 9, 2023

New York-based startup Amogy believes the key to solving this problem lies in harnessing ammonia, one of the world's most...

Tech News

Apple’s headset challenges, and what AI can learn from nuclear safety

June 6, 2023

The "one more thing" announced by Apple at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) this year was the industry's worst-kept secret....

Tech News

AI films, and the threat of microplastics

June 2, 2023

The Frost nails its strange and disconcerting atmosphere in its opening shots. Huge frozen mountains, a makeshift camp of military-style...

Tech News

Meet the longevity obsessives, and how China’s regulating AI

May 31, 2023

—Jessica Hamzelou Earlier this month, I traveled to Montenegro for a meeting of longevity enthusiasts, people interested in extending human...

Next Post

Here are the biggest technology wins in the breakthrough climate bill

POPULAR

Entertainment

Elliot Page Recalls ‘Inception’ Cast ‘Full Of Cis Men’ Making Him So Anxious He Got Shingles

June 9, 2023
Finance News

A new bull market in stocks? Thank the VIX, says Fundstrat’s Tom Lee

June 9, 2023
World News

Ukraine presses counteroffensive as flood evacuations continue in south

June 9, 2023
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Editorial Policy
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy

© 2022 London Daily Post. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • UK
  • World
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Entertainment
  • Lifestyle
  • Sports