This page defines the concept of a pyramid scheme. A pyramid scheme is a business model where recruiting members with the promise of payment is the main effort of revenue rather than investments or the sale of products. These schemes are often unprofitable and illegal.

I've personally aided in content going viral in a few ways. If there is something that I like content-wise, I'll like and comment on it so that the creator or that type of content stays on my algorithm. I also aid in the vitality of content by sharing the post with my friends and family, and I will also repost it if it is something I resonate with for the online community to see.

This article describes the group QAnon, which is a group of politically far-right conspiracy theorists who believe that the world is controlled by the deep-state or cabal-type organization comprised of evil deviants that occupy offices of power throughout the world. They believe that the only person that can defeat this cabal is Donald Trump.

Whenever I am scrolling through Instagram, I happen upon recommendations for content or advertisements that are composed of the type of content that I would look at on that platform. What concerns me is when I happen upon a recommendation to content that I have never looked for on that platform, but may have talked to someone about that day. It make me paranoid that my phone or devices are listening to my conversations, and whenever I investigate why the platform is showing me that content, it gives me the same generic answer, that is based on the things that I look at on the platform.

This is such a cool project. Liftware specializes in creating utensils that can self-stabilize for people who struggle with hand and arm mobility, fostering confidence and independence. The company has two products, the Steady and the Level, each catering to their own specified disability. They both come with attachments for fork, spoon, and spork ends.

When I was younger, I found the settings page for accessibility on my iPhone. I used to play around with all the settings to see what each setting changed to the interface of the phone. I always wondered what each setting corresponded to what disability. I also noticed, as time went on, that the accessibility settings would expand from time to time to accommodate a wider range of disabilities. It is good that technology developers are continuing to find ways to make their products more and more accessible.

Multifactor authentication is a system where a site will only allow access to the site when 2 or more pieces of authenticating evidence are presented. this may come in the form of a password along with a code sent through SMS or email. This allows for a site to be more secure when multiple factors of authentication are presented to avoid unwanted access.

I think there are instances where the federal government will need to compel the social media company to release the data of a certain person's social media account. The federal government may deem it necessary in the interest of protecting national security. The social media company may be inclined to share this data to avoid conflict with the federal government or public backlash for violating data privacy.

This article contains an analysis in the form of a question and answer between 2 researchers at the University of Washington of the effect of misinformation, especially in unprecedented times such as the COVID-19 pandemic. One important idea that was shared was that misinformation can cause a sense of anxiety that you;d lead people to do things that are not founding in facts, which is called collective sense making.

Not too long ago, I watched a documentary on Netflix called The Social Dilemma, which dramatized this concept of how social media companies use data to increase a user's time on the site. The documentary goes deeper into the issue, where social media sites will not only target their advertising to certain users, but they will also, over time, create a "image" of your personal interests, and begin to mold your interests into something else that would be different from your initial interests to foster engagement in other advertising.

I remember seeing this gadget going viral on social media because of its comments. The review are funny because they exaggerate the usefulness of gadget and create a funny forum to scroll though. I can see why actions like this might create difficulty for truly interested shoppers who want to see what people actually think about products. It might be hard to root this out using technology, though, as close readers might have a better sense of what to look for.

Personally, I think the best course of action when encountering trolls on the internet is to not engage with them or offer them no attention. Particularly with the more obvious forms of trolling, I think it is important to report them if you see them, but also not engage with them as trolling becomes more successful when people make the reactions that trollers are aiming for.

This article explains the concept of the hierarchy of friction. An example of emotion friction is when you finish all of your tasks in your Canvas to-do list, and you receive a celebration message congratulating you on your achievement. Interation friction is something you either want to reduce if you want to create a reliable and seamless UX, but some developers might use it to their advantage, such as advertisers. A method to avoid cognitive friction would be relating a certain action to real life experience, such as a "shopping cart" on an online shopping website.

I very much dislike this feature, but I understand the reason why advertisers choose to do this. I think the entire time I am forced to watch an video advertisement, or view a ad graphic, I am not actually watching considering the ad content, I am only looking for ways to skip or bypass the ad. Most of the time, I do not remember or acknowledge the content of the ad. So, this method does a good, but annoying job of farming engagement.

This source speaks about the concept of deliberate ignorance, which is relevant to the ethics of social media development. The concept can be summarized as purposefully not knowing something so that emotions can be regulated and viewpoints can be supported without objection. This relates to social media when users only engage with content that reinforces their predetermined beliefs. This can cause misinformation and uninformed decision-making.

I think this is important in the case of participating in political discourse, as well as in civic duties such as voting. Many people will draw on sources of information that might not necessarily be credible but will present information that will confirm someone else's predetermined beliefs. That is why it is our duty as responsible consumers of data and media to fact-check and consume media from many sources of ideological beliefs so that our actions are informed by meaningful discernment rather than confirming a belief that we might already have.

This is an interesting bot that allows users to use a hashtag on the pages of companies to activate the bot, which reveals the gender pay gap that the chosen organization has. It seems to be that financial institutions such as banks, have the highest gender pay gap, negatively affecting women, from what I could see after a few scrolls.

In the physical world, people have the easier ability to assign blame for actions to specific people or entities because they have a physical and mental presence in the world, which can be assigned blame for negative choices. In the case of a bot that is performing actions on behalf of multiple stakeholders in the execution of a bot, multiple people can be assigned blame for the action and can even be held responsible at a different degree than other stakeholders.

I grew up with this quote being a central belief of how one should live. I've always grappled with this sentiment as I think about how simple the logic is to follow. It seems to be that humans don't always do what is in their best interest, which leads to self-destruction. Why would we create tools and ideas that would lead to our pain and suffering?

Throughout American history, the definition of "everyone" has evolved through time, but has not always been inclusive of the total population. As today's society continues to evolve, social media has the ability to become another medium for people to become alienated and face inequality if decision-makers do not put systems in place to protect people. This, in conjunction with the right to free speech, is a difficult task for developers to undertake.