xtogro on Nostr: “When selling to advertisers, for example, they have to convince them that people ...

“When selling to advertisers, for example, they have to convince them that people are looking. How do they get more people to look? Outrage, conflict & arguments. Better yet: make people addicted to outrage, conflict, and arguing, and they will maximize "time on site" and other engagement metrics. Advertisers love these! Who cares about truth, wisdom, beauty, nuance, or value? Who cares about honest dialogue if you can maximize clicks instead?”
Gigi (npub1der…xzpc)

quoting
note1t4q…ylew

two notions here:

1. most of these techniques are a recipe for running a media business. the news industry is built on fear that keeps us coming back to check the status. and because all media are online now, algorithms prompt editors to almost live content editing to increase traffic. they don’t differ much from ad-driven social platforms.

2. speaking of social media… as these techniques manipulate and increase engagement, it must be reflected in social platforms’ algorithms. propaganda content will generate more ad revenue than our conversations here.

two things i find useful:

for 1) news detox: there’s a simple theory that you don’t need to read news, because if sth important happens, the information will reach you anyway.

for 2) switch to nostr! 😀