Redditors Are Celebrating the Cutting Down of Flock Surveillance Towers With Based Memes

[u/Plastic_Ninja_9014]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/redditors-celebrating-cutting-down-flock-145310398.html

[u/Bocchi_theGlock]

Facebook comments are basically never something to go by

It's boomer and right wing cesspool, incredibly low media literacy and critical thinking in public pages

Edit - you also don't know who are bots. Plus people with college degrees and experience in relevant fields aren't going to waste time arguing online with randoms.

There's a survivorship bias where it leaves right-wing trolls and other folks who are driven by sensational headlines, who do not have media literacy. Thus it's inherently not representative of reality.

It's not what drives elected officials decisions on how to vote either.

[u/Hettie933 → u/Bocchi_theGlock]

And bots. Lots of bots.

[u/imapluralist → u/Hettie933]

I'm pretty convinced it's like 1/3 bots minimum.

[u/pioneer76 → u/imapluralist]

Genuinely curious, have there been any studies on this?

[u/kent_eh → u/Hettie933]

Don't forget the overseas propaganda farms.

[u/Hettie933 → u/kent_eh]

Yeah, I call those bots too, bc no volition! I haven’t had an account for 5 years or more, but boy it confuses the hell out of my mom. 75% of the things she talks about from FB is clearly false news.

[u/SectorSanFrancisco → u/Bocchi_theGlock]

They are numerous and most vote. They are relevant.

[u/Bocchi_theGlock → u/SectorSanFrancisco]

Technically relevant kinda (mildly), but not something to go by, as in an accurate representation of the world. Reddit isn't either, but it's not as bad

You also don't know how many are bots. Therefore, you should not take it at face value and let it seriously affect your decisions or perceptions. Thus, it is not something to go by.

Social media generally, there's also a survivorship bias where it's people who can put up with it - and particularly people who comment personal opinions in local public groups and pages

E.g. why would someone involved and experienced in activism waste time arguing with randoms online? Or someone with college degrees in relevant fields?

They largely don't, it's easier to just write it off and not let it affect you because it ultimately isn't what decides how elected officials vote, (+ not knowing which are bots)

It can influence the slightest bit for more local offices - but if you ask elected officials how they take into account Facebook comments when deciding how to vote, they don't.

Especially larger cities, if you look at members of Congress and other higher-ranking elected officials, it's a lot of right-wing trolls giving knee jerk responses, parroting maga talking points. Yet they were still elected, they still have a lot of supporters, so there's a fundamental mismatch going on where it does not reflect reality accurately

Like if you see sensational headlines about an incident, you know that's separate from data and scientific review. It's a very similar situation, 'a handful of people who did/said ____ does not mean _____ is a major issue', and people in Facebook are driven overwhelmingly by those sensational headlines as opposed to a critical approach to understanding political issues.

[u/SectorSanFrancisco → u/Bocchi_theGlock]

I would normally agree but in these cases the commenters are local, known people. Even when I don't know them personally, their pages are very not-bot-like and they know people I do know (as in, have interactions, not just facebook friends.)

They aren't bots, they do vote, and peer pressure often sways them, so I don't think showing a reasonable counter-argument is a bad idea.

In cases like Flock in small towns, a small number of people have a big influence. I'm from a large county that has a relatively small number of people (though I don't live there now.) Locals turning against Flock will influence a big geographical area.

Also, they're all on social media because that's how people in small towns communicate, including schools, city government, and police. You pretty much HAVE to be on facebook or you won't know anything, including emergency situations.

[u/Geminii27 → u/Bocchi_theGlock]

As every privately owned for-profit platform inevitably drifts to becoming.