Here's a thing (it'll possibly not be a popular view).
CS is well known, and *deservedly* so, for being virtually troll free.
BUT... this doesn't mean that, as a user, you're immune to manipulation. The measures that CS has in place are, as far as I can see, mainly there as a defence against political manipulation. How about commercial?
A bit of background to what I'm thinking...
My 'political awakening' started with a book called No Logo by Naomi Klein (WELL worth a read).
Written in 1999, it's aged pretty well imo - the details may have changed somewhat, particularly with the advent of social media, but there's nothing to suggest the overall picture is inaccurate.
What it does very well is detail how companies manipulate human instincts, behaviours and relationships in order to benefit their brands. And I'm mainly thinking about 'social media influencers' here.
We know how political trolls generally work - pretending to be regular people, 'just asking questions' about things etc.
We know how 'influencers' work on social media.
We also know that influence tactics that were originally the preserve of multinationals and nation states eventually filter down to the general public (troll farms, for instance).
So...
That youtube video that you've just seen a link to, did it start with ads?
Did the person you follow just link to an art materials store website because they genuinely use it regularly?
How well do you know that person?
And it *could* go further than that - let's assume that the person linking these things have nefarious interests at heart. Who benefits from your watching that youtube video? Or visiting that website?
Couple of hopefully unneeded points to add:
1) counter.social does, imo, WAY better than any other platform in combatting manipulation of it's users. This isn't a criticism of CS in particular.
2) Big troll farms get attention. Other forms of social media manipulation get less. As the idea of big troll farms get more widely recognised, their influence will dimish as their tactics become more widely recognised.
3) Tactics will change.
4) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKBCvo-qGnk (no ads, I promise!)
@66ALW99 i run 2 ad blockers, i rarely see an ad. i have facebook container, which blocks facebook from following me around the web, and also FBP, i run fact checker & media bias.
i do not shop at Amazon ever. i do not watch "influencers". it's not that difficult
@redenigma Okay, I may be missing something but your reply, particularly the "it's not that difficult', suggests a level of complacency that enables the thing you seem to believe yourself protected from.
Ad blockers are generally reactive, not proactive, depending on a recognition of networks, mostly ones that play within recognised rules.
You say you use fact- and and media bias checkers, which generally don't check individual social media accounts for commercial interests.
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@redenigma The point of my post wasnt really to warn against particular networks, like Amazon. Its more about recognising strategies, because companies like Amazon will, when they see a particular tactic isn't working, adopt new ones. Technological tools like ad blockers will always be on the back foot in that regard.
And the whole point of 'influencers' is that, to do it effectively, the people you hope to influence don't realise what you're doing.
@66ALW99 when i was in high school my English teacher devoted an entire semester to advertising, subliminal messaging and propaganda. it was probably the most useful of any of my high school classes. i think it should be a required course.
@66ALW99 i don't generally use any social media accounts to get advise, unless i know the person IRL.
Social media is, by it's very nature open to manipulation.
We're influenced by people - or who we perceive to be people, those we think share our values. This has been the case since long before social media and will likely continue be the case when the next big thing rolls across our horizons.
I don't even have answers to this stuff. The nearest I have is just.. question people you don't really know. Think critically. Constantly.