Thread by @Timcast

Twitter is radicalizing people faster than any other network

The short but easily shared format allows fake news to travel faster than ever before

Out of context clips, quotes, and headlines result in the rapid deployment of information fragments which mislead and radicalize

Activists also use screenshots of clips, quotes, and headlines to actually make it harder to research. People fall for misleading narratives and the record is often never corrected

Facebook is fast but at least you have more space to post your idea, Youtube doesn't have a direct share function so its actually very slow

Business models and political agendas are forming around misinformed extremism due to Facebook and Twitter.

Digital Media built empires off radicalizing people with police brutality and social justice content.

This resulted in an inverse reaction, people opposed to the radicalization

Venture capital provided a shield of credibility. It was mainstream so it was ok.

Think about what Joey Salads was caught doing. Race baiting viral videos. But this was exactly the content 'radicalized digital' needed, proof of racism.

However, they do quite literally the same thing, formulaic ragebait meant to go viral.

There is no one to call them out

They hide behind the mainstream to push lies, smears, and extreme content for the money. Companies hire low tier college grads at dirt wages to write opinion trash and call it fact.

They use formulas to generate content meant to be viral

They are obsessed with 'gamergate' even though it hasn't been a thing in years.

Its because the boogeyman means clicks, rage gets clicks, they need a villain,

They love Trump and we all know it

Trump has been a godsend for these media companies. We have even seen executives quoted saying "lets get back to Trump"

Its called the Trump Bump

Get people mad get paid

But how do you keep milking the same cow over and over?

You need to radicalize, the content needs to avoid becoming stale

"Is Trump A racist?" get you a million views but you cant write the same story twice

Tomorrow you write "Trump IS Racist"

Then "Trump IS THE MOST Racist"

Then "Is Trump Like Hitler"

"Trump IS LIKE Hitler"

"Trump Is WORSE Than Hitler"

Of course that is over simplifying things a bit. The formula does need to be less apparent to people.

But this is how it works. And its not like Youtubers are immune from the same process.

But Youtubers cant click "share" and have the video appear in all of their followers video feeds.

Facebook and Twitter CAN do this. Which means the speed at which content becomes more and more extreme is substantially faster than Youtube

This is why youtube is dominated by "anti sjw" types in terms of the amount of channels.

Progressives are passive and get radicalized by VC backed media trying to generate clicks.

Youtubers try to resist this and over time built a strong following calling out the extremism.

While it is true that there are 'grifters' on youtube trying to capitalize on the rage its not as easy without a direct share function, though they still succeed doing it.

VC Media and Media in general are threatened by this system and decided to use these people as examples and as weapons to generate more clicks.

Its why they are so obsessed with a 3 year old joke from Carl Benjamin

Now they talk about the lie of Youtube radicalization, which data shows is just not a thing.

Youtube's algorithm can't tell the difference between political concepts and doesnt have a direct share feature. You have to CHOOSE to go down a rabbit hole

However Buzzfeed, Vox, VICE, Mic, etc. DOES know the difference between political concepts and can use direct sharing and escalation to keep driving fast clicks for that short term gain

When people are inundated with over 2 billion views from an outlet like AJ+ pushing an intersectional race baity narrative they get radicalized and start to see mountains where there were mole hills

At one point there was a website dedicated almost EXCLUSIVELY to police brutality videos cracking the GLOBAL Top 500 websites.

It worked, they knew it worked, and the lay offs are a result of the Facebook algorithm changing last year to favor content from real people

Twitter is worse in many ways. Activists desperate for follows and other general idiots who aren't smart enough to grasp complex ideas push out of context clips and quotes for clicks, retweets, shares etc

Social Media is an addiction.

Its a video game

Shares are points, how do you get the most points?

Did you get less RT's this time? Well now you feel bad.

People's self worth is now tied to their viewer count, their share count, interactions.

If there is a nation level trend lowering views they take it personally

Did school just let out? Most college kids are visiting family and not online?

Views drop 20%

They say "omg why are my views down, Youtube is fucking me!"

Social Media is giving people a dopamine release for their nastiest hot takes

The more extreme the more likes, the more retweets, the better you feel.

Twitter knows all of this.

They have publicly discussed remove counters for likes, retweets, and even followers.

But deep down they know that this is what makes twitter valuable.

Its earning points, visible social approval points that make us feel good.

Social media is a fucking drug that is polluting our minds.

Its time to set some limits.

But how do you stop the machine while respecting free will?

I have no idea.

Stay tuned for a longer video at 4pm

Youtube.com/Timcast