I used #Twitter to get information from a variety of sources using #Quacker, all the way until they decided to basically prevent non-registered users to browse the website. Now you literally have to login to access the tweets, or see any comments, which is ludicrous. It’s not that generic public forum it used to be any longer and I don’t understand how they are expecting to get any meaningful ad revenue there.
#Mastodon is gazillion times better, has a normal community, albeit with a smaller user base, but that is probably a plus, since you don’t get so many weirdos.
Maven, a new social network backed by OpenAI’s Sam Altman, found itself in a controversy today when it imported a huge amount of posts and profiles from the Fediverse, and then ran AI analysis to alter the content.
"CEO Ken Stanley is an expert on open-ended discovery in both AI and human systems and ... (most recently leading the Open-Endedness Team at #OpenAI )."
At: "Is Maven part of a larger company?"
"No, Maven is an independent startup."
But
"Here are a few of our investors, who also commented on their reasons for supporting Maven:
-- Ev Williams, co-founder of #Twitter: “Maven lets you follow your deepest curiosities instead of the trends of the day.”
-- Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI: ”In Maven, there is a chance for AI to play a role in fixing much that is broken in our online discourse.”
Die 1. Sitzung ist wieder ausgewählten Abschlussarbeiten gewidmet:
Julia Pabst untersucht, wie #MachineLearning in der #Epigraphik zur Identifikation von Wappen & Inschriften eingesetzt werden kann & Lukas Germann widmet sich den Herausforderungen der Analyse von #Twitter-Daten.
The widow of Alexei Navalny, Yulia Navalnaya, has had her X account suspended. Meanwhile, his brother has been put on Moscow wanted list's. Listen to a Daily podcast special on Russian opposition in the wake of Navalny's death as you scroll.
My latest article 'Animalization of Kurds in Turkish-Speaking Social Media' is published in Nationalities Papers. It examines more than 2.5 million tweets in order to show how #Kurds are animalized on #Twitter.
Don't really think the whole Twitter migration worked, at least not for me… Just being here is isolating and doesn't help with networking, plus I miss everyone who didn't switch, so I think from now on, I'll be active both on #Mastodon and on #Twitter / #X… Sure hope the #Fediverse won't hate me for this! 💀
Whoopsies! "Free speech absolutist" "accidentally" suspends the accounts of journalists who are critical of him, and people whose political views he disagrees with.
He seems to have quite the habit of firing or banning people he disagrees with, doesn't he?
Via Gizmodo:
"X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, purged an unknown number of prominent accounts over the last 24 hours with little to no explanation, and then restored the accounts minutes after this article was published.
"The list includes popular accounts belonging to journalists, writers, and podcasters. Among them are Ken Klippenstein of the Intercept, writer and podcaster Rob Rousseau, Texas Observer correspondent Steven Monacelli, the account for TrueAnon, a left-wing politics and news podcast, and a number of others.
"One thing the accounts have in common is recent criticisms of the Israeli government.
...
"Musk, who calls himself a “free speech absolutist” has previously said no one should be banned from X unless they break the law.
"Update, 1:12 p.m.: Shortly after this article was published, Musk responded to a question about the issue from far-right influencer Jackson Hinkle. Musk promised to investigate, and the accounts went back up soon after. Musk later blamed the “mistake” on X’s spam algorithms. The Hamas account is still suspended."
"We call on…higher ed institutions in Germany to shut down their accounts on #X (formerly #Twitter)…Their presence on X/Twitter is incompatible w [their] remit to provide information because disinformation & political smear campaigns are condoned there…[A] presence should be established on #Mastodon…whose decentralised…design is much more compatible w the rules of democratic & sustainable cooperation."
Reclaiming Our Space How Black Feminists Are Changing the World from the Tweets to the Streets
In Reclaiming Our Space, social worker, activist, and cultural commentator Feminista Jones explores how Black women are changing culture, society, and the landscape of feminism by building digital communities and using social media as powerful platforms.
"Free speech absolutist" allegedly fires employee for raising security concerns.
Apparently Elon's version of free speech doesn't extend to employees who raise concerns about information security:
"Alan Rosa, who was Twitter’s global head of information security, filed the lawsuit late on Tuesday in New Jersey federal court, alleging breach of contract, wrongful termination and retaliation, among other claims. X Corp did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
"Rosa claims that late last year, after Musk acquired the company, he was told to cut his department’s budget for physical security by 50%...
"Rosa says he objected because the cuts would put Twitter at risk of violating a $150m settlement it entered into earlier in 2022 with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which claimed Twitter had misused users’ personal information. The agreement required Twitter to implement privacy and information security controls to protect confidential data.
"He was fired days after raising those concerns, according to the lawsuit. Rosa is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, and legal fees."
@academicchatter I recently published something on my personal website for the first time, and accidentally bumped into some interesting data on the #academic reach of #socialmedia.
I shared the content on #Mastodon first (November 1), and on #Twitter the day after. On November 20 I edited the post here, leading to two new boosts.
My toot received 6 boosts and 7 stars; my tweet got 6 retweets and 38 hearts. Yet, in terms of website traffic the two dates of Mastodon activity outperform Twitter.
"in terms of website traffic the two dates of Mastodon activity outperform Twitter"
If I'm reading this correctly, I think this means that Mastodon users are more likely to visit a website and read the article (at least some of it) than X/Twitter users?
I'm in the #Humanities Commons instance, and we have free profiles like https://hcommons.org/members/stevemccartyinjapan that include a link to the old blue bird of Twitter, and members are increasingly leaving, so our admins at @hello might want to reconsider having that item in the next version of profiles.
How are #altmetrics services adjusting to the decline of #Twitter, especially #AcademicTwitter? Are they giving Twitter mentions less weight? Are they tracking mentions in other social-media platforms? If so, which platforms? Where do they think academics are going? Do they have good data?
Elon's "extremely hardcore" toxic work culture means people are forced to take Adderall without a prescription to meet their workload. Just ask SpaceX employees.
"Some SpaceX workers resorted to taking Adderall to keep up with the pace of work at the company's launch facility, and others found themselves falling asleep in the bathroom during long workweeks, a recent Reuters investigation found.
"Travis Carson, a former SpaceX worker at the company's facility in Brownsville, Texas, told Reuters some workers took Adderall — a stimulant designed to help people with ADHD improve their focus and concentration levels — without a prescription to keep up with the pace of work."
BREAKING TWITTER takes readers inside the darkly comic battle between one of the most intriguing, polarizing, influential men of our time—Elon Musk—and the company that represents our culture’s dearest hope for a shared global conversation. (sic!)
When X (formerly Twitter) owner Elon Musk changed his platform’s verification system, he ushered in a new reality where fringe conspiracy theorists could easily promote false claims about breaking news. That happened again shortly after the deadly mass shootings in Lewiston, Maine, as Media Matters found numerous heavily...
Prominent "free-speech absolutist" threatens to sue Jewish anti-hate group because it engaged in free speech he didn't like.
"Elon Musk has threatened to sue the Anti-Defamation League after accusing the civil rights group that campaigns against antisemitism and bigotry of trying to “kill” his X social media platform.
"The owner of X, formerly known as Twitter, said the ADL was trying to shut down his company by 'falsely accusing it and me of being antisemitic'."
If your list of enemies includes the ADL, then there's a more-than-reasonable chance that you're an anti-semite.
X will soon limit the ability to livestream to Premium subscribers (9to5mac.com)
Maven Imported 1.12 Million Fediverse Posts (wedistribute.org)
Maven, a new social network backed by OpenAI’s Sam Altman, found itself in a controversy today when it imported a huge amount of posts and profiles from the Fediverse, and then ran AI analysis to alter the content.
Russia-Ukraine latest: X suspends Navalny wife's account - as Moscow puts brother on wanted list (news.sky.com)
The widow of Alexei Navalny, Yulia Navalnaya, has had her X account suspended. Meanwhile, his brother has been put on Moscow wanted list's. Listen to a Daily podcast special on Russian opposition in the wake of Navalny's death as you scroll.
Numerous verified X accounts are claiming that the Maine mass shootings were a “false flag” (www.mediamatters.org)
When X (formerly Twitter) owner Elon Musk changed his platform’s verification system, he ushered in a new reality where fringe conspiracy theorists could easily promote false claims about breaking news. That happened again shortly after the deadly mass shootings in Lewiston, Maine, as Media Matters found numerous heavily...