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Category: In Practice

Do social media algorithms favor “sexualized posts”?

Do social media algorithms favor “sexualized posts”?

Social media algorithms that select what items we see in our feeds or in our “recommended” posts or video lists, may be designed to favor content that features attractive people (usually females, usually young and fit) or which include more sexualized content (broadly defined). Content creators see in their viewership data what works to obtain views and will produce more content like that. The effect is that algorithms may be reinforcing stereotypes of women as sex objects (data suggests this has happened more so for women than men).

Oxfam’s annual report on income inequality is nonsense designed for propaganda messaging

Oxfam’s annual report on income inequality is nonsense designed for propaganda messaging

Oxfam issues its annual report on global wealth inequality, but this time, many notice that its methodology is garbage, designed to produce a specific outcome for citation in propaganda campaigns. Specifically, many U.S. university graduates with good paying jobs, nice apartments, cars, smart phones, cable TV and Internet access are identified as among the poorest people on earth. Really?

Updated: How airlines use intimidation to persuade you to spend more money

Updated: How airlines use intimidation to persuade you to spend more money

Six months ago, I wrote about airlines’ new policies of dividing cabins into as many as 9 different tiers or classes of customers, creating a sense of peer pressure between the haves and have-nots. Now, researchers say this passenger hierarchy appears to lead to more in flight aggression by passengers.

Nice explanation of how propaganda messaging works

Nice explanation of how propaganda messaging works

“A good cause makes a lie easier to buy”. This is why many propaganda campaigns use themes such as “for the children” – even though their claims are exaggerated or not true. The target buys the propaganda message since its for a good cause.

Fear is a powerful motivator in propaganda messaging: How its used to sell third party solar

Fear is a powerful motivator in propaganda messaging: How its used to sell third party solar

Third party companies offer to install solar PV arrays on your home and promise to save you money on your monthly electric utility costs. Bloomberg found they use a mix of false assertions, lies, cherry picking and fear as sales methods, to persuade homeowners to sign up and lease the solar PV system for decades. Over time, the lease costs increase such that the homeowner spends far more in the future, while the third party company collects large government subsidies. Few homeowners understand what they got in to. When they go to sell their home, the lease is transferred to the buyer – in effect, TPO solar PV arrays become a dead weight on the home’s future sales potential, particularly to informed buyers who understand the game.

Media influences your thinking merely by choosing which stories to run

Media influences your thinking merely by choosing which stories to run

435 Congressional Representatives were elected last November. How many can you name? Probably not many. But you can probably name Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez due to the media’s odd fixation on her with non-stop saturation coverage. Why has the media singled out one Representative for saturation coverage – and largely ignores the other 434 Representatives?

How airlines use intimidation to persuade you to spend more money

How airlines use intimidation to persuade you to spend more money

The new multi-level boarding scheme and “class-based” seating assignment is designed to embarrass the low payers, who must walk down the full front and center seats. Everyone knows that you, boarding last, are the cheap skate who bought a cheap ticket. This intimidation uses techniques of propaganda to persuade you to buy a higher priced ticket on your next flight.