Propose changes to Twitter and Facebook algorithms?
Social logic embedded in these platforms has been a disaster at radicalizing the right and insulating others.Bots and troll farms are only part of the problem.
Algorithms determine recommended content or placement of content, downplaying some or up-playing others. If you follow a lot of people on Twitter, the system decides which tweets to put in your feed. It doesn’t show every single thing, or you have to dig deeper for some than others. Facebook also has certain biases toward inflammatory content built in. (The movie Social Dilemma illustrates this.)
These platforms aren’t going away. Shouldn’t these platforms become part of the solution?
The culture can’t resort to “re-education camps” for the delusional Q-followers or people who band together to support the terrorist invasion of the Capitol. But social media could make changes to its algorithms to HELP rather than HARM social cohesion.
How can social media sprinkle in thought provoking or divergent or “healing” content to open minds and lower tempers? Can the algorithm incorporate some pro-social weighting factors such as:
*liked by people across a broader spectrum, not only in your social group
*designated as “healing”
*value rural vs urban users in each other’s feed
*incorporate anti-social penalties by downplaying content that is heavily liked only by polarized anti-social feeds.
*For users associated with hate speech or violence, incorporate a kind of hidden digital “treatment” plan: gradually sprinkle in counter-content
Thoughts of possible influence factors or mechanisms that would be pro-social and healing?