How have your views on social media changed (or been reinforced)?
Social media has become increasingly pervasive in society, with both positive and negative impacts. It has allowed for greater connectivity, information sharing, and community-building on a global scale. However, it has also brought challenges such as online harassment, misinformation, echo chambers, and privacy concerns.
If you could magically change anything about how people behave on social media, what would it be?
I would encourage empathic behavior and civil discourse. I'd advise them to engage in kind and productive conversation that helps them comprehend and empathize with others' viewpoints. This would promote a more welcoming and encouraging online community where debates are held with decorum, empathy, and a sincere desire to learn from one another.
What if social media sites were governed by their users instead of by shareholders (e.g., governed by the subjugated instead of the colonialists)?
Users would have more influence over the features, functions, and policies of the social media sites they use. As a result, they would have the power to directly affect the platform's direction, content moderation criteria, privacy regulations, and community standards. Additionally, user governance would give room for a wider variety of viewpoints to be reflected and taken into account. It could assist in addressing issues with bias, discrimination, and censorship by fostering inclusivity and input from underrepresented groups.
In what ways do you see capitalism, socialism, and other funding models show up in the country you are from or are living in?
I lived in China before. China has a distinctive economic structure that incorporates features of both capitalism and socialism. Despite being referred to as a socialist market economy, it has embraced market-oriented reforms and allowed a sizable amount of private sector involvement. For instance, China continues to have a sizable number of state-owned businesses, especially in key industries like energy, telecommunications, finance, and transportation. Under the direction and control of the government, these businesses work toward achieving national goals and advancing the socialist economy.
Pick a social media platform. In what ways does that platform make it difficult to repair or reconcile after public shaming?
The quick information diffusion that might result from Twitter's fast-paced and viral nature makes it difficult to stop the spread of shaming occurrences. When someone is publicly shamed on Twitter, the information can spread swiftly and quickly reach a large audience. The individual may face long-lasting repercussions as a result of this public exposure, making it challenging to mend fences with individuals who took part in the shaming or to mend fences with others.
Do you think there are situations where reconciliation is not possible?
In some situations, the severity of the hurt, long-standing disputes, or fundamentally different values or objectives may pose substantial obstacles to reaching reconciliation. Additionally, the likelihood of reconciliation may be hampered by power disparities, a lack of trust, or continued violence. Alternative strategies, such conflict management, restorative justice, or transitional justice, may be more appropriate in these situations for dealing with the fallout from prior conflicts or injustices.
How do you think social media platforms should handle crowd harassment? Are there things they should do to reduce it? Should the consider whether harassment is justified in some instances?
Social media platforms should establish and communicate comprehensive community guidelines that explicitly state what constitutes harassment and the consequences for violating those guidelines. Clear guidelines help set expectations for users and provide a framework for moderating and addressing harassment. While platforms should respect freedom of speech and encourage diverse perspectives, they should draw a clear line between freedom of expression and harassment. Any form of harassment, including targeted abuse, threats, doxxing, or coordinated attacks, should be addressed swiftly and decisively, regardless of the context.
How do social media platforms make harassment possible?
Social media platforms often allow users to create accounts using pseudonyms or remain anonymous. While this can protect privacy and encourage free expression, it also enables individuals to engage in harassing behaviors without fear of immediate consequences. Anonymity reduces accountability, emboldening some users to harass others without revealing their true identities.
Do you think there are ways a social media platform can encourage good crowdsourcing and discourage bad crowdsourcing?
Yes. For example, users are empowered to report inappropriate or harmful crowdsourcing activity by means of easy and effective reporting tools that are made available to them. Users should be encouraged by platforms to report any content that contravenes community rules or endangers others. User complaints should be promptly addressed to help lessen the consequences of poor crowdsourcing.
What do you think a social media company’s responsibility is for the crowd actions taken by users on its platform?
Social media sites have an obligation to protect their users' security. This entails taking action to stop harassment, bullying, hate speech, and other detrimental behaviors that can develop into unruly mob behavior. Platforms should enforce community rules, put in place effective moderation tools, and react quickly to reports of abusive content.
What dangers are posed with languages that have limited or no content moderation?
Users might be allowed to upload materials that incite hatred, violence, and discrimination against certain people or groups on the basis of their race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation if there is insufficient moderation. This may result in the dissemination of destructive ideas and support a poisonous online community. Also, cyberbullying is the use of internet communication to harass or intimidate others. Users may engage in this practice. Cyberbullying victims may suffer from sadness, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts, among other severe mental and emotional effects.
What people are in charge of different social media sites and the content moderation rules? How does this affect the rules that are made?
The goals and priorities of the firm leadership, the legal and regulatory context in which the platform works, user comments and demands, and other factors all have an impact on the rules. In other instances, pressure from advertising or other business partners may also have an impact on the regulations.
Social media platform administrators wield considerable influence over the laws and regulations that govern online debate, which can have substantial ramifications for free speech, privacy, and other fundamental rights. As a result, it is crucial that these people fulfill their obligations and participate in open, inclusive, and moral decision-making processes.
What responsibility do you think social media platforms have for the mental health of their users?
It is the duty of social media companies to provide a secure and positive online environment for their customers. This entails safeguarding user privacy, confirming the veracity and accuracy of material, and taking action to stop harmful conduct including cyberbullying, hate speech, and harassment. Users who may be having mental health concerns should have access to information and support on social media platforms.
In what ways have you found social media bad for your mental health and good for your mental health?
From my personal experience, use of social media has been associated with an increase in anxiety, depression, and loneliness. Frequent exposure to social media images of other people's seemingly ideal lifestyles can further exacerbate poor self-esteem and feelings of inadequacy. On the other hand, social media can help people stay in touch with friends and family, locate tools for self-improvement, and get support for mental health difficulties.
In what ways have you tried to make content go viral (or seen others do so)?
I see a lot of bloggers online who use hashtags in their content. They sometimes use hashtags that have a lot of views to get their content shown to more people, even if the hashtag doesn't always fit their post very well. I also know some bloggers who use paid promotions to buy views. This way other users see that the content has been seen by many people and are likely to click through to see it too.
In what ways have you participated in helping content go viral?
When I see something interesting or hot on the Internet, I share it with people around me to watch and learn about it. At the same time, I will also like or comment on these contents. If I find the content useful, I will also repost it to my own page and hopefully share it with more people.
What strategies do you think might work to improve how social media platforms use recommendations?
Websites or platforms can give users the right to directly block content they don't like. This would allow collecting data on content that users are not interested in, thus avoiding recommending similar content to users again.
What experiences do you have of social media sites making particularly good recommendations for you?
I use an app called RED, which is a widely used sharing app in China, where people can share their daily life or make recommendations. There are very detailed tag categories within the app, so it will make recommendations based on what you read regularly. At the same time, its tags are also interlinked, so it will also recommend content that you might be interested in to observe user feedback.
In universal design, the goal is to make environments and buildings have options so that there is a way for everyone to use it22. For example, a building with stairs might also have ramps and elevators, so people with different mobility needs (e.g., people with wheelchairs, baby strollers, or luggage) can access each area. In the elevators the buttons might be at a height that both short and tall people can reach. The elevator buttons might have labels both drawn (for people who can see them) and in braille (for people who cannot), and the ground floor button may be marked with a star, so that even those who cannot read can at least choose the ground floor.
I think this approach is the most widely applicable solution for the disability community. Strategies that contrast with assistive devices that are expensive or try to make them "normal" are changing the group itself. If changes are made from the designer's point of view, this transpersonal strategy can protect the disability community to the broadest extent. Because we need to respect them as they are, not force them to change in order to fit in.
Many of the disabilities we mentioned above were permanent disabilities, that is, disabilities that won’t go away. But disabilities can also be temporary disabilities, like a broken leg in a cast, which may eventually get better. Disabilities can also vary over time (e.g., “Today is a bad day for my back pain”). Disabilities can even be situational disabilities, like the loss of fine motor skills when wearing thick gloves in the cold, or trying to watch a video on your phone in class with the sound off, or trying to type on a computer while holding a baby.
The definition of disability here is not quite the same as my previous self-perception of disability. I did not realize that a brief inconvenience could be defined as a disability, and this part of the explanation refreshed my definition of disability. At the same time, I was convinced by this new definition. Perhaps because this concept was not emphasized to social majority in my country before, my understanding of this term was incomplete.
What incentives do social media companies have to protect privacy?
Social media companies rely on user trust to maintain their user base and grow their platform. If users feel that their privacy is not being protected, they may be less likely to use the platform, which could lead to decreased revenue for the company.
What are your biggest concerns around privacy on social media?
Social media platforms collect vast amounts of personal data from their users, including location, browsing history, and personal preferences. This data is often used for advertising and other purposes, and it can be sold to third-party companies.
Do you think there is information that could be discovered through data mining that social media companies should seek out (e.g., they can’t make their platform treat people fairly without knowing this)?
Sure. Through data mining, platforms are able to provide more personal services to users. For example, Google involves many other fields together to collect users' preference, such as YouTube, Google Map and translation. They try to offer more in order to ensure the pleasure of using experience, so that more users would choose them. Tracking individuals' activities can know the topic they are interested in, and then push more similar articles to users.
Some data is directly provided to the platform by the users. Platforms may ask users for information like: email address name profile picture interests friends
Lots of platforms require users to full out these information at the beginning calling "identify", and also require users to permit their data collection. Otherwise, the platforms will refuse the using. I think this action may cause many potential problems, such as stealing personal information. In this case, users' privacy and security should be considered.
Have you witnessed different responses to trolling? What happened in those cases?
Yes, not only just the strangers on the Internet, but also someone I knew experienced this. When the number of harassers become large enough, the one who was harassed can not fight back. At this time, no matter what he/she do has no difference to the situation, responding or keeping silence.
Trolling is when an Internet user posts inauthentically (often false, upsetting, or strange) with the goal of causing disruption or provoking an emotional reaction. When the goal is provoking an emotional reaction, it is often for a negative emotion, such as anger or emotional pain.
I think this is the reason why more and more platforms nowadays require user to identify themselves on the Internet. Since if there is no way to locate the one who makes the fake post, the environment of web will be more negative and emotional. Also, more people will not be able to know what is the truth.
Where do you see parasocial relationships on social media?
There is a social media called Weibo in China. In my opinion, this platform shows the actual example of parasocial relationships. Since lots of celebrity will share their daily life on this app, their fans can follow them to track idols life. Although the one who has attention don't know the followers, the bond between them is solid.
Do you think it matters which human typed the Tweet? Does the emotional expression (e.g., anger) of the Tweet change your view of authenticity?
I think it's important who delivers the tweets. First of all, different people may have different purposes for posting tweets, such as those who want to get Trump elected and those who want to stir up public sentiment. Second, it's easy to be dominated by crowd sentiment on the Internet. Most people will believe what they see, even if it's not the truth. And preconceived emotions can cause this part of the population to lose their search for the truth.
Another example of intentionally adding friction was a design change Twitter made in an attempt to reduce misinformation: When you try to retweet an article, if you haven’t clicked on the link to read the article, it stops you to ask if you want to read it first before retweeting.
In this case, adding friction is a good design for users compared to the last example, which makes users see more ads. I just realized that these two are both called adding friction in the media. However, the purpose of these two are totally different.
If you wanted to make a profile to talk about yourself, or to show off your work, you had to create your own personal webpage, which others could visit. These pages had limited interaction, so you were more likely to load one thing at a time and look at a separate page for each post or piece of information. Communication platforms were generally separate from these profiles or personal web pages.
It looks like the "Blog" I knew before. One website just provides a part of information and need to click on more links to get more. Though the form of this has been used for at least 20 years, I think this form is still being used nowadays.
As you can see in the apple example, any time we turn something into data, we are making a simplification.1 If we are counting the number of something, like apples, we are deciding that each one is equivalent. If we are writing down what someone said, we are losing their tone of voice, accent, etc. If we are taking a photograph, it is only from one perspective, etc.
Simplifing is a process that is prone to error or bias. As in the example of using apples of varying sizes in content, it also defaults to a uniform and fair distribution in the data. This can give unequal information to those who use the data as well as to those who receive the information from the data.
Data can play an essential role in informing ethical decision-making, but it's crucial to ensure that such decisions are grounded in a robust ethical framework and consider diverse perspectives and values. Additionally, we must ensure that data collection and use are ethical and safeguard individuals' privacy and autonomy.
How does allowing bots influence social media sites’ profitability?
A bot can increase profitability by increasing user engagement, as it can automatically like or comment. All these actions will make the whole community of social platforms active. And the increased user interaction is the source of profitability.
Is this automatically connected robot considered robot-issued or operated by a real person? Because in the process of its automatic determination there is still a chance of error, so who will be responsible for this error?
In fact, I am inclined to agree with the view that social platforms are not real life. Because I think that most of the time, the Internet certainly gives more people a platform to express their opinions but also allows them to attack others with impunity or cause a lot of negative effects. The digital nature of the Internet amplifies the emotional problems of many people and also makes it easier to create social tendencies. In my opinion, social media platforms are part of real life in the 21st century, but they are never the same as reality.
Since I grew up in China, I have a better understanding of the influence of Confucianism in China. This idea seems to me to be an expression of altruism, which leads people to sacrifice themselves to give to the benefit of others in the hope of fostering a harmonious and reciprocal society. This ideology has always idealized the evil in everyone's heart, but in fact the historical record shows that Confucius, the founder of Confucianism, did not achieve 100% of the ideal he preached.