Browsed by
Month: June 2016

Social media peer pressure enforces conformity to group norms

Social media peer pressure enforces conformity to group norms

If you want the tl;dr response, stop here: social media is a pretty effective mechanism for peer pressure. If you disagree, please consider how many temporary profile pictures have been updated on Facebook to red, white, and blue in the wake of the horrific attacks in Paris (including perhaps your own). We know that online peer pressure is powerful. But what we don’t know is whether that pressure is driving real change. Sharing your opinions and thoughts online is as simple as clicking…

Read More Read More

Social media platforms degenerate from trivia to propaganda and censorship

Social media platforms degenerate from trivia to propaganda and censorship

If you have followed this blog, you understand social media has become a frictionless conduit for the spread of propaganda. Propaganda is messaging intended to encourage a target to take some action. There are two sides to propaganda messaging – those promoting a propaganda message and those with opposing views. The strongest form of opposition is when platform operators directly censor third-party opinions. Normally, the answer to speech someone disagrees with, is more speech, not censorship. Today, Reddit censored comments from those quoting…

Read More Read More

Unknown conservative group creates fake poster to spread untrue meme

Unknown conservative group creates fake poster to spread untrue meme

TL;DR Summary Photo allegedly shows injuries to a female Trump supporter after violent protests against Trump at a Trump campaign rally. The photo is actually a test photo of an actress, after injury makeup was applied, as part of a movie production. The photo has nothing to do with a Trump rally. The photo was distributed by a small Facebook page called “Conservative Nation” (the post has apparently been removed) and was then shared thousands of time online.   Photos are “re-purposed”…

Read More Read More

General Patton and yet another fake historical quote

General Patton and yet another fake historical quote

TL;DR Summary Patton said “Liberal democrats are the lowest form of politicians”. No, very, very unlikely he said that. It appears to be a combination of a quote from Patton (the first sentence) and a modified quote from President Harry S Truman (second sentence) who made a similar comment 4 years after Patton died. This version of the poster (there are many versions) originates on a Facebook page titled “The Truth has no agenda” which is a conservative page with an…

Read More Read More

Social media viral nonsense and the story that never ends

Social media viral nonsense and the story that never ends

TL;DR Summary Photo purports to show the ejection of a USAF Thunderbird pilot in Smyrna, TN in early June 2016. This photo had, in moments, been shared nearly 8,000 times on FB. The photo is actually from a USAF crash in Mountain Home, ID in 2003 and the photo was taken by a USAF Airman. You can read about that actual incident here. No one questioned the truthfulness of the photo – yet it took just seconds to locate the…

Read More Read More