When you boost it shares it to your feed and all your followers. Without an algorithm running, boost are what makes content spread and sorta “go viral”. A boost is pretty similar to a retweet in Twitter or share in fb.
The culture on mastodon is to be more generous with boosts, to help posts you like get to more folk.
Boost other new folks especially, help them find their people.
Analysis of over 1.2 million Xitter posts found that moral outrage determines the virality of online petitions, but is not associated with the number of signatures they receive (after controlling for virality). Emphasis on prosociality was associated with relatively more signatures.
Summary: https://neurosciencenews.com/moral-outrage-psychology-28874/
Original paper: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/19485506251335373
"Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg also said in January that the company was removing or dialing back automated systems that reduce the spread of false information. At the same time, Meta is revamping a program that has paid bonuses to creators for content based on views and engagement, potentially pouring accelerant on the kind of false posts it once policed. The new Facebook Content Monetization program is currently invite-only, but Meta plans to make it widely available this year.
The upshot: a likely resurgence of incendiary false stories on Facebook, some of them funded by Meta, according to former professional Facebook hoaxsters and a former Meta data scientist who worked on trust and safety.
ProPublica identified 95 Facebook pages that regularly post made-up headlines designed to draw engagement — and, often, stoke political divisions. The pages, most of which are managed by people overseas, have a total of more than 7.7 million followers.
After a review, Meta said it had removed 81 pages for being managed by fake accounts or misrepresenting themselves as American while posting about politics and social issues. Tracy Clayton, a Meta spokesperson, declined to respond to specific questions, including whether any of the pages were eligible for or enrolled in the company’s viral content payout program.
The pages collected by ProPublica offer a sample of those that could be poised to cash in."
Key points :
1. To examine the influence of #news source bias on #affective content and #virality over time, we applied #sentiment analysis to a large #socialmedia dataset over a decade (i.e., ~ 30 M twitter posts from 2011-2020).
2. Biased news sources on both sides produced more arousing negative affective content, and this content was also most viral.
3. Biased news sources may generate " #AffectivePollution ”, engaging users at the expense of their knowledge, well-being, and harmony. (2/3)
Key points from "News source bias and sentiment on social media" :
1. To examine the influence of #news source bias on #affective content and #virality over time, we applied #sentiment analysis to a large social #media dataset over a decade (i.e., ~ 30 million twitter posts from 2011-2020).
2. Biased news sources on both sides produced more high arousal negative affective content, and this content was also most viral.
3. The virality of high arousal negative content increased over a decade, particularly for balanced news sources.
4. Biased news sources may generate " #AffectivePollution ” which engages users at the expense of their knowledge, well-being, and harmony. (2/3)
#AI and the Evolution of #SocialMedia
There is a lot we can learn about social media’s #unregulated evolution over the past decade that directly applies to AI companies and technologies. These lessons can help us avoid making the same mistakes with AI that we did with social media.
1, #Advertising
2. #Surveillance
3. #Virality
4. #LockIn
5. #Monopoly
https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2024/03/ai-and-the-evolution-of-social-media.html
The Venn diagram of people who unironically “try to go viral” and the people who believe the “pandemic is over”…is a circle.
I believe that #mastodon may be a good fit for some of those leaving #reddit
Mastodon is also organized in a way that accommodates public discussion of niche topics (through subscribing to hashtags or curated content). There is community #moderation in each instance, and different content policies. Mastodon allows posts with images and videos (and even alt text). Mastodon allows bots, editing posts, third party apps, saving content, etc. These are many of the features that reddit users are concerned about losing.
However, mastodon has no ranking system or algorithm. It is just you and your timeline. Likewise, there is no karma or emphasis on #virality - it is just direct community responses around a topic. Conversations are not infinitely threaded, but rather more focused on a single discussion, and not everything is searchable.
Some communities will thrive here but you are right it is not a forum.
if you are looking for #elonmusk takes, #rightwing #content, #incel bs, bought #bluechecks, cheap fake produced videos of mishaps designed for #virality (hello no human context!) and so much of the like more, search no longer, go to #birdsite, click the #algorithm picked content from the #foryou tab. humongous loads of stomach cramps
Even though #JohnMastodon hates a cheesy bid for #virality, he checks off on the #IdesOfMusk #LeaveTwitter #March15 thing.
#JohnMastodon contains multitudes, man.
RESEARCH FINDING:
Twitter is now actively pushing #climate #conspiracy myths into #virality, despite them being overall unpopular.
Why is @elonmusk putting his thump on the scale for the anti-science crowd? Why no #transparency?
Source:
https://isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Deny-Deceive-Delay-Vol.-2.pdf from @ISDglobal
@darkcarnivaleric Precisely or rather #virality here is more organic rather than clout and outrage driven — think #JohnMastodon’s wonderful uprising two weeks ago. And depending on massive corporate controlled platforms for our organizing has always seemed questionable — besides we used to do a mighty good job of organizing with listservs and such . A federated network controlled by people not profits sure seems more aligned with organizing and more able to avoid repression.
@rysiek I think nuanced conversations need to define and separate the concepts of "virality", "reach", and "advertising", among others.
With a subset of potential/actual users raising concerns about "how many eyeballs will see my post", I think intentions matter.
One small slice of that discussion is the category of "influencers" who want to game algorithmically based virality as part of their brand advertising. I think "natural virality" is more important (and possible). #virality #viral
Next was a thorough talk on understanding (old) #Twitter #virality by Filippo Menczer at the #MIT Initiative on the Digital #Economy. This talk gets into the complex interplay between bots, polarization, and #contagion in Twitter #networks. While the days for this kind of research are numbered on current platforms, it's still nice to get insight into how these processes may function. Highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAIX0ekFJLQ (6/7)
@apsin @ryanschultz I think we need to *reclaim* the word "viral" from the traditional commercial algorithms.
Virality is still a good analogy for things like John Mastodon, and it's more honest when it comes from the people opppsed to a commercially skewed algorithm, or any algorithm with intent.
There is an algorithm here (e.g. boosts, local and federated feeds, etc), it's simply more neutral and democratic. Just my $0.02...
I know I'm late to this, but all the eulogies for #Twitter this one, from @Quinnae_Moon, does the best job of capturing, as she puts it, "the grim reasons Twitter came to be known as the Hellsite".
https://www.wired.com/story/twitter-virality-politics-change/
"Twitter alternative: how Mastodon is designed to be “#antiviral”"
Maybe a good explanation, why some people like #Mastodon and some not.
#antiviraldesign #socialnetworks #Twitter #Virality #antiviral #neuhier #newhere
https://uxdesign.cc/mastodon-is-antiviral-design-42f090ab8d51
@LilHulkQ
Welcome! It's different in ways that make the toxicity of the #Twitter algorithm & QTs evident. (There are drawbacks to that too, like a lack of #virality--#Mastodon can't replace the crowd-sourced real-time reporting at which Twitter excelled.)
There are still issues surrounding tone-policing of #oppressed people & debates around "#civility", but many people here engage in #dialogue in good faith. After the cultivated nastiness of Twitter, it's refreshing.
