SOCIAL MEDIA – THE RUDE REVOLUTION PART 2 – David Margan As I wrote last month, the social media communications revolution has hit us at light speed and has changed the way we communicate. As human communications are a critical aspect of who we are and how we relate to each other this change is significant and we have had little opportunity to reflect on its consequences . Printing – and the ability to read – changed the world. But it took time ... now revolution is just clicking or a swipe. The benefits are amazing but there appears to be a rising cost. Life is complex and rich with nuance but none of that can be expressed in 140 characters or in the absence of the sender’s face and its myriad of expressions. Fights start faster than in a soccer game between Croatia and Serbia.
American adults had experienced online abuse, with almost half of them receiving severe forms of harassment, including physical threats and stalking. Seventy per cent of women described online harassment as a “major problem”. The internet offered unparalleled promise of cooperation and communication between all of humanity. However, instead of embracing a massive extension of our social circles online, we seem to be reverting to tribalism and conflict. In 2012 an in-depth study showed that given the choice of a positive or negative post the majority of users went to the negative stuff. In fact, the algorithms that drive social media architecture are designed to encourage the negative and the argument. They get responses and traffic and therefore profits.
Offence is everywhere, the weak become tough in cyber and the cowards, bullies.
Each outraged or emotional word in a tweet increases the likelihood of it being retweeted by 20%.
A survey last year found that forty per cent of
“Content that triggers outrage and that expresses
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DOG WORLD August 2020
