Apropos of nothing, AI/LLMs (chatgpt) should not be used to make arguments or treated as factual sources of information. They lack context & are extremely susceptible to bias. I tell my students, "go ahead & use it, but it's all on you when you're silly with the wrong answer" In other words, chatgpt is heavily influenced by how you ask the question and the specific data (info) you give it. We (the computer scientists!!) don't really fully understand how they work. Ppl really shouldn't be using LLM answers to make any kind of authoritative point...

I study online communities and have been deep in thinking about ARMY since 2020. One of the most fascinating things to me is how ARMY twt is both a fandom and not a fandom.

Tldr; ARMY is a fandom, but some people don’t realize they’re in a fandom. Many ppl seem to come to ARMY as fandom newbies. They've never been in a fandom before. So when they are learning ARMY culture, they are also learning fandom culture.

While they are learning ARMY inside jokes, they are also learning fandom inside jokes & memes.

The panopticon is this very old concept (like 1700s) that was meant to create model prisoners. So the idea was the prisoners would be visible 24/7 in this large structure. So while Jimin's lyrics are set me free, he is standing in a literal visual prison. + This concept is now applied to thinking about surveillance states (CCTV) and social media. (For the nerds this is the work of Foucault and then a bunch of social media, comms, and HCI scholars have picked this up. +
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panopticon

One of my favorite things about BTS is how they DEMONSTRATE healthy relationships - with each other and with ARMY. When they communicate, they are open, honest, vulnerable. They say things with the expectation we take them at face value. They show us boundaries. + In return, we support them and trust their words. We don't read into their meanings or look for things that aren't there. Trust, openness, boundaries, consent, and support. Outsiders don't see this and it's a real shame. I hate that they (media) have violated this moment. +

As I’ve been thinking & writing about this a lot and I'm presenting about it next week, I thought I would share some of my thoughts on ARMY community places

Tldr; why Weverse currently fails as a platform 🧵👇 In my current research, I am exploring how communities use social media platforms as places to
1. Build relationships
2. Care for each other
3. Play and have fun

I would totally help with this if there are any software developers out there who can write robust code 🥺🥺

https://twitter.com/Maerlyn8_BTS7/status/1518677321057722369

OKAY the vision: building a community-based community-driven social media platform for and by users (ARMY)

Literally my area of expertise

If people are serious about this, I need to know - I would very much like to make this happen but it would need to be a team effort for real

Okay, people requested a serious thread. Here you go.

I absolutely love the way BTS & ARMY play together. I love it so much I wrote a whole research paper about it.

My thoughts on "Yoongi, marry me" 🧵👇 There's lots of playful banter about marrying different members of BTS. This runs the gamut of teenage fantasizing to adult fantasizing. This is actually good for young people to help develop a sense of the kind of partners they want in life or re-orient as they age.