#Twitter trained us all to tweet a certain way - namely, in a way that emulated what we saw others wrote when they got "liked" a lot.

Twitter taught us how to subtweet, how to snarky quote-tweet, how to clapback and "this u?" and a host of other objectively bad behaviors that - nonetheless - our primate brains told us would get us "liked".

People didn't always tweet this way. It was a gradual evolutionary process. Hard to see it until you've been away from it for a while...

Bazerman studied how scientific communities decided what "mattered" in terms of science by looking at what was being written about, and how peoples' reports changed over time.

Scientific reports didn't always look the way they do now. It was an evolutionary process, whereby the scientists, as a community, "liked" certain papers and emulated them.

Emulating well-liked papers was a way to get "likes".

I imagine you see where this is going...

By hijacking our primate brains' insatiable hunger for approval, social media gives us powerful incentives to seek approval from the community social media itself builds.

And what's the best way to get that approval? Do what everyone who gets approval is doing.

Write what you think people will "like".

Social media has historically used a number of psychological levers to keep people engaged.

The strongest one (arguably) is the "like" button.

We all like to be "liked". It's a sign of approval, of agreement. It's a primate thing.

For the primate brain, as long as we're "liked", we're more likely to have safety, company, comfort, food. For the primate brain, to be not "liked" is a threat.

We even have little built-in drugs to reward us when we're "liked": dopamine, oxytocin, vassopresin ...

#twitter #socialmedia #thread

When I was in grad school, I briefly studied Charles Bazerman's work on how people write for disciplinary audiences, ie. people who work & study in the same field.

I've found some of that work relevant and illustrative in the case of the #Twexit to #CoSo and other spaces.

tl:dr: Over time, the way groups write starts to converge in such a way that it tells individuals what the community thinks is important.

I will explain further in the next few toots ⬇️

ANNOUNCE:

We've been listening to you.

Native Light-Mode is now available to ALL users of the https://counter.social web application and official mobile app. And it's in your preferences now!

I saw a sudden blip in book sales and wondered what could be going on? I don’t know how the heck this happened but…cool.

Here I #amwriting at the Brunswick Community Library, Brunswick NY Library Day 19 #NaNoWriMo - cheery day outside and inside the library and was shown a choice of two workspaces. More mileage than I expected doing this month but it's working out in progress.

@kel @Go_Ask_Alice @Foggynoggin @bethsnodderly

The Dark Reader is fine, but I had trouble with not being able to tell if I'd favorited or boosted something, which can often be how I figure out where I am in the notifications I'm replying to.

So I developed an inversion theme that leaves them intact and makes the dark grayblue of CoSo into a soft beige. You just have to have a CSS extension installed. Details here: https://sethharrington.me/counter-social-light-theme/

I forgot that 16 approached me earlier and asked me a question while I was doing something, and I answered, and they said, "Are you mad at me?"
"No, why?"
"Your tone was just - flat. And deep."
"Oh no that's my real voice. I have spent 50 years making sure that my voice sounds okay to others, but I'm tired, and that's what I actually sound like."
Kid - "I didn't know."
"Keep it in mind for yourself. I know when you're not masking. Just be."
#Autism

On CounterSocial, value is not derived from the number of followers you have or the number of likes your posts recieve. It is the quality of your contribution that matters more than anything.

There's no suppressive algorithm, which means that there is no reason to chase clout in an effort to overcome it. We much prefer for you to simply be yourself. #CoSoTips

Robin Hood is my favorite non-princess animated disney film. The music is addicting, too.

I remember earlier this year when Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of NATO, was repeatedly pressed by journalists as to what NATO's response would be if Russian missiles hit #Poland. This was when strikes had hit Lviv, close to the Polish border.

His answer every time was the same: verify, verify, verify.

This is a story that's going to move very slowly, and that's important, because of all the possible implications. As with everything involving the war in Ukraine. Verify, verify, verify.

For those planning to watch the upcoming Blood Moon Eclipse. This site shows a map - lets you input your location and gives you times etc for your location. https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/map/2022-november-8

Being on Counter Social watching Twitter burn is a little like being Canadian.