Pure Spirit

2 Followers
21 Following
40 Posts
@jonreed billionaires sure got their money’s worth buying out media and loading it with agitprop

@rodhilton I think Glass Onion is fundamentally more fun when watched with no expectations, and it’s just a playful made-for-streaming romp skewering various right wingers and our society that props them up.

If I watched it now, after all the online hype, I would’ve expected a lot more.

@nobodyzhome @hu_logic @rodhilton The basic interface of Twitter isn't difficult.

I, and most SW engineers, could write something that resembles Twitter and works for a few hundred people as a weekend side project.

...but getting it to scale to millions of people and synchronize across the globe with redundancy, automation, dealing with attacks, bots and content moderation is a multi year project.

Elon almost certainly doesn't understand the second part.

Twitter's latest "feature" is basically confirmation of what I've been alleging: viral and high-engagement content is algorithmically forced into timelines at the expense of the content from actual accounts you follow, which is why you see better engagement on Mastodon with a fraction of the followers.

Go to an account you follow and check the view count for their latest tweet.

Notice how much smaller it is than their follower count.

We've all been shadowbanned by time-on-platform targets.

Simple example of what I'm talking about...

Last night Ford tweeted about their 2023 Bronco Sport. As of right now, their Tweet has 36.2K views, but the account has 1.4M followers. 2.5% of their audience saw it.

At the same time, Tesla tweeted about their Model Y. As of now, 24.3M views on their tweet, 18.8M followers. 129% of their audience.

If I was an executive at Ford, I would be *pissed* about this.

He talked about electric cars. I don't know anything about cars, so when people said he was a genius I figured he must be a genius.

Then he talked about rockets. I don't know anything about rockets, so when people said he was a genius I figured he must be a genius.

Now he talks about software. I happen to know a lot about software & Elon Musk is saying the stupidest shit I've ever heard anyone say, so when people say he's a genius I figure I should stay the hell away from his cars and rockets.

@micahflee @mozilla this is great news
@wesdym @LizardSF @radleybalko what is “spectacle” and what is “information that must be shared” is a real eye of the beholder thing, isn’t it?
@wndlb @trick @taylorlorenz ah, okay. Then I beseech our BDFL, please help ensure Elon’s grand alt-right project fails. Guy is retweeting literal Nazis at this point (eg ramz****). Maybe add some guardrails to QT so individuals that faced harassment on Twitter because of the feature can turn it off? I think it’s important we listen to journalists here, they are the heart and soul of Twitter. Without them, Twitter withers and dies and Elon holds the bag.
@taylorlorenz I’m on your side. Not because I have a strong opinion about the feature, I don’t. But I do have a very strong opinion that this is the time for Mastadon to be flexible and open to change. Add some guardrails to QT like the ability to disable, but QT is only toxic when the community itself is toxic. Elon’s grand alt-right project needs to fail, even if Mastadon has to change a bit to accommodate the refugees.