So, with all the major platforms going to $h1t as they chase the AI hype $$ dragon...
How safe is the stuff we post on #mastodon from data scraping?
I mean, I think there's probably no way to safeguard against it at this point, but for now I don't feel great about posting eg. WIP lyrics and stuff like that on meta platforms, seeing as they have made it clear they WILL be scraping all your posts.
Republicans, #TFG, #socialmedia…: radicalized voters with disinfo…: An Illinois man arrested for amassing guns & pipe bombs for a civil war against immigrants & “a corrupt govt” was radicalized by RW conspiracy theories. His profile pic was the same upside-down flag Alito flew after the insurrection. His SM history: stolen election & antivax conspiracy theories, QAnon posts, & violent ideology. He was ready for a civil war bc he was led to believe the lies. #GOPDeathCulthttps://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/illinois-man-arrest-bomb-ready-for-civil-war-1235027015/
Facebook just took down roughly 100 pages and profiles for violating the site's rules that prohibit “militarized social movement,” including militia groups that take personal responsibility for defending their communities from a variety of perceived threats.
These 100 pages are just a tiny fraction of the thousands of militia groups Facebook has previously kicked off the site, supposedly permanently.
"Elon claims that X is now up to 600 million monthly active users, and around 300 million daily actives."
"X also reported reaching 500 million monthly users in March 2023, so based on these stats, X seemingly added 50 million more users in a year, but has now added another 50 million in just eight weeks."
😂😂😂
Highly doubt X gained 50 million users in only 8 weeks.
I am a tiny bit sad. If only because now I will remember a number -- 23149880 -- that is truly and completely obsolete. I really need to conserve brain space for more important things.
Also, if ICQ can last, what, 15 years? after it became irrelevant, what does that say about how long we're going to have to suffer with Twitter/X if people ever actually leave en-masse?
A verybinterestin conversation with Meredith Whittaker, the head of Signal, the well known encrypted messaging app.
' I don’t think we can have a conversation about disinformation without having a conversation about the role of massive homogenous platforms that have cannibalized our media ecosystem and our information ecosystem in service of profit and growth for a handful of companies [TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X and YouTube]. '
I am subbing in a high school class that, since it is the last day of school for seniors, has nothing to do. Everyone is on their phones, of course.
But the guys in the class are using their phones to interact...they are showing each other stuff and laughing, etc. The girls are intently staring at their screens thumbing alone.
Not sure what to make of this, but I don't think it can be good.
Openvibe now fully supports both Nostr and Mastodon protocols! 🌐📲
Experience seamless crossposting and a unified timeline for all your social interactions 🐙
I've been noticing one of the biggest social problems with social media, as a medium (the fediverse included). It occurs when two people who've been in a social media space for a while, interact for the first time.
From each person's POV, they're at their local chatting with friends, and a stranger has come into their social space. Each expects the other to be more diplomatic, as they hopefully would if they joined a group chat at a bar. They'll likely be disappointed.
After years of Meta steadily walking away from news on its platforms, the company’s new AI tool is now using the work of those outlets for its new chatbot, Meta AI, which scans news outlets and summarizes their latest stories and headlines for anyone who asks.
Bez większych wyjaśnień, bez wytłumaczenia co tam się właściwie będzie działo. Podobnie jak Google - po prostu my ci to włączamy i możesz tylko zaakceptować lub możemy łaskawie rozpatrzyć.
Zerknąłem do formularza, tam takie kwiatki:
"Informacje, które udostępniasz w naszych produktach i usługach, mogą obejmować np.:
– Posty
– Zdjęcia i podpisy
– Wiadomości, które przesyłasz do SI"
Czyli SI będzie się uczyła na podstawie tego co piszesz i wrzucasz. To co tutaj umieszczasz już nie jest twoje, punkt drugi, również zdjęcia i naprawdę od dziś zacznę się dziwić ludziom obficie wrzucającym zdjęcia swoje jak i swoich dzieci tutaj.
W czasach gdy SI (AI) jest zamknięta, nikt, nawet jej właściciele, nie wiedzą jak w zasadzie działa, w czasach deepfake'ów, Meta (właściciel Facebooka) narzuca mi coś, tak jak wcześniej Microsoft i Google, czego łatwo albo wcale nie mogę odrzucić.
Dziwi mnie taka cisza, nie wierzę że wszyscy mają tak wywalone, naprawdę możliwość lajków, rolek, kilku wiadomości i podglądania innych ma takie znaczenie że chcemy być "biomasą"? .
'Just 10 "superspreader" users on Twitter were responsible for more than a third of the misinformation posted over an eight-month period, according to a new report.
In total, 34 per cent of the "low credibility" content posted to the site between January and October of 2020 was created by the 10 users identified by researchers based in the US and UK.'
A really interesting update on bots behaviour. I used to be able to spot bots on twitter. I can't spot them on Mastodon and maybe this 👇 is why.
I'll bear this in mind when I see suspicious answering patterns. The last thing I want to do is amplify bots on the Palestine issue ... er, No.
Someone asked me recently about the ability to "Read the Room" and whether or not this was a skill that can be developed. I certainly believe it is a skill and can be cultivated. Perhaps the most impactful maxim which can guide us in this regard was taught to me by a Jedi Knight who went by the name Zenchi from the Temple of the Jedi Order. He told me, "Learn to Observe without needing to React."
The Internet, particularly the social media algorithm demon, has created an incentive not just to React to everything, but to Observe specifically to React. In this way we often bias our interpretation of that which we observe with a skew towards the least charitable interpretation so that our reaction can be as extreme as possible.
To counteract this and hone this skill of reading the room, we can practice several behaviors that will improve our lives.
First, be the last person to speak in an interaction. When you allow everyone else to have their say, it gives you a chance to examine their perspectives and gauge their intentions.
Second, questions are better than statements. The cultivation of curiosity leads to more robust conversations. A statement can often be viewed as dismissive or ultimate in nature, sometimes leaving a conversation partner feeling as though there's nothing left to say. Curiosity, by contrast, is almost always viewed as an invitation to continue discourse.
Third, speak in a way that is pleasant. We've been taught to rely on flippancy and sarcasm in modern discourse as we assume the intentions of others or deliberately misconstrue them to make ourselves look superior. By engaging with someone in a pleasant way, we can disarm hostility. Even if others fail to uphold this standard, we will still maintain our own peace which is of a value beyond measure.
"“when I WIN the Presidency of the #UnitedStates, they and others of the LameStream #Media will be thoroughly scrutinized for their knowingly dishonest & corrupt coverage of people, things, and events,” Donald #Trump posted on Truth Social last September in an attack on NBC News...
What could Trump do to the #news media and its ability to inform the American people?
Judging by what he did in his first term, plenty."
Design, Digested 53 is out! Of the few articles I read the past couple of months, the most memorable are about smartphones use and the ways modern tech can make us miserable.
Exploitative content of poor people is not new. In fact, the term 'poverty porn' was first coined to describe NGOs that captured dehumanizing moments of poor people of color across the world in an attempt to drive donations.
But with #homelessness at a record high in the U.S., there's a burgeoning, exploitative brand of #SocialMedia content where clout-chasing influencers delight in monetizing those struggling to survive.