What responsibilities do you think social media platforms should have in what their recommendation algorithms recommend?
I think that the platform has to balance user safety and freedom of expression when their algorithms are recommending things. There should be ways for people to opt out of algorithms and also more protection for children who are on the platforms.
Kelsey D. Atherton [@AthertonKD]. Oh, you're experiencing a structural problem? Have you ever considered trying different personal choices instead? April 2019. URL: https://twitter.com/AthertonKD/status/1120376944061583360 (visited on 2023-12-07).
This source is a sarcastic posted on X in 2019 that got nine thousand reposts, 29 thousand likes and 48 comments. The post and comments are about how when there are structural issues people are told to work on themselves and instead of fixing this underlying issue.
What assumptions do the site and your device make about individuals or groups using social media, which might not be true or might cause problems? List as many as you can think of (bullet points encouraged).
One assumption that the social media site makes is that everyone is able to see and is able to navigate the multiple tabs within the site. It also assumes that everyone is able to read and hear in order to understand the content which is not true. This site is not accessible for people who have visual or hearing impairments and/or unable to read.
Color blindness. December 2023. Page Version ID: 1188749829. URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Color_blindness&oldid=1188749829 (visited on 2023-12-07).
This source is a Wikipedia article about color blindness. The article goes through the definition, the effects and what causes color blindness. It also mentions how it can be hard for people with colorblindness to navigate driving as it heavily relies on red, yellow and green lights. One thing that it mentions that I thought was interesting was it talked about advantages that people with colorblindness have at noticing camouflage.
What are your biggest concerns around privacy on social media? What incentives do social media companies have to protect privacy?
My biggest concern about around privacy on social media is data breaches and hacking. This is because I am worried things like my passwords, phone number and financial data. The incentives social media companies have to protect privacy is to get brand trust as well as staying away from legal battles.
Lyra Hale. New Book Says Facebook Employees Abused Access to Track and Stalk Women. The Mary Sue, July 2021. URL: https://www.themarysue.com/facebook-employees-abused-access-target-women/ (visited on 2023-12-06).
This article is about Facebook and its employees misusing personal data for their own purpose. The article references an article by the Insider as well as a book titled An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook’s Battle for Domination. They specifically mention how Facebook employees were using this data to stalk women and find out where they were in real time which is a gross invasion of privacy.
Do you think there is information that could be discovered through data mining that social media companies shouldn’t seek out (e.g., social media companies could use it for bad purposes, or they might get hacked and others could find it)?
I think that there definitely is some information that could be discovered through data mining that social media companies shouldn't seek out like anything that relates to someone's location or their routine. The data could be misused and lead to things like discrimination or identity theft.
Greg Miller. Researchers are tracking another pandemic, too—of coronavirus misinformation. Science, March 2020. URL: https://www.science.org/content/article/researchers-are-tracking-another-epidemic-too-misinformation (visited on 2023-12-05).
This source is about Emma Spiro and Kate Starbird who created the Center for an Informed Public in 2019 and who then later throughout the pandemic worked scrape massive amounts of data from social media platforms in order to exam how misinformation was being spread during the pandemic. The article has an edited version of one of their interviews talking about misinformation during crisis and how it spreads.
Have you witnessed different responses to trolling? What happened in those cases?
One response I have witnessed about trolling is people not realizing its purpose and getting enraged by whatever it is. This usually ends in long back and forth comments that get more and more angry as it goes on.
Is It Funny or Offensive? Comedian Impersonates FBI on Twitter, Makes MLK Assassination Joke. January 2020. URL: https://isitfunnyoroffensive.com/comedian-impersonates-fbi-on-twitter-makes-mlk-assassination-joke/ (visited on 2023-12-05).
This source is about comedian Jaboukie Young-White who on MLK Day changed his twitter profile picture and name to be the FBI. He then tweeted "Just because we killed MLK doesn't mean we can't miss him." The tweet was taken down super quickly and there were very mixed opinions on wether or not it was funny.
How do you notice yourself changing how you express yourself in different situations, particularly on social media? Do you feel like those changes or expressions are authentic to who you are, do they compromise your authenticity in some way?
I change how I express myself based on the audience. When texting with friends I use causal slang, but when emailing teachers I use more polished, formal language. These changes feel authentic because they are just showing different parts of my personality rather than faking who I am.
X (formerly Twitter). Permanent suspension of @realDonaldTrump. January 2021. URL: https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2020/suspension (visited on 2023-11-24).
This source is about the permanent ban of @realDonaldTrump from X (formerly Twitter) and the reasoning for it. They reference two of Trumps tweets from January 8th and say that the context surrounding the tweets (the January 6th attack) warrant his ban from the site. They bring up their Glorification of violence policy and explain how Trump went against these policies.
What (if anything) about the social media platform’s design helps someone perform the use case?
For the use case of finding information having a search feature on the social media's platform would help people find what they are looking for. For the use case of finding communities having a way to look through people with similar interests as you would help.
Comedy Central. Drunk History - John Adams and Thomas Jefferson Had Beef. February 2018. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6Ove4_JsCM (visited on 2023-11-24).
This is a YouTube video explaining the history and strained relationship between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. The story is told by two drunk guys and then reenacted by actors. They bring up the fact that Jefferson and Adams both spread misinformation about each other through the press.
Relationship status
For relationship status I would store it using strings with a preset list of options for the user to choose from. I don't think I would give the option of a way of choosing "other" because relationships and their status can be complicated so I think it would be best for the person to pick the one that fits them the best. This would also remove the issue of people having typos or using a different language.
W3Schools. Introduction to HTML. URL: https://www.w3schools.com/html/html_intro.asp (visited on 2023-11-24).
This source explains what HTML is and how it is used. HTML or Hyper Text Markup Language is the standard markup language used for creating websites. It consists of a series of elements that tell the browser how to display the content. To make an HTML element you have a start tag, content and then an end tag.
For example
How are people’s expectations different for a bot and a “normal” user?
People have different expectations of a bot because they know that a bot is being told what to do by someone else and that the bot does not understand its impact on others. When "normal" users post things online they can be held accountable as they have a basic understanding of what they are posting and how it can affect others. A good example of this is the case of Justine Sacco and her racist tweet.
Steven Tweedie. This disturbing image of a Chinese worker with close to 100 iPhones reveals how App Store rankings can be manipulated. February 2015. URL:
This article/source was about a women who was allegedly using a hundred or so iPhones to delete and reinstall specific apps on the phones in order to get that apps download count up. Apps with a higher download count receive a higher ranking in the App Store. According to the article this has been a continued issue for Apple and you can supposedly pay groups of people thousands of dollars to get your app into the top ten apps for a week.
The ends justify the means.
To add on to this description of Consequentialism ethics, it is also about maximizing the good, meaning that the morally right action would be the one that has the greatest net balance of good over evil. A common criticism of this ethic framework is that the idea of "the ends justify the means" can sometimes hurt minorities if the result is deemed beneficial to the majority.
What things about the design of Twitter enabled these events to happen?
I think that one feature on Twitter that allowed these events to happen is that you are able to retweet the post and share it to your followers. Even if Justine only had a few followers, one of them could have thousands and when the post was retweeted, more and more people saw the post and most likely also retweeted it which continued the cycle. Another feature of the app that enabled the events is how public her information was. People were able to see exactly where she was and could figure out where she was going which lead to photos of her coming off the plane to e taken and spread online.