MK

Twitter was for talking to everyone —which is perhaps one of the reasons journalists have flocked to it.

Anybody can speak, but in an increasingly saturated cultural environment, nobody may be listening. Gatekeepers may no longer control what gets published, but algorithms control what gets circulated. Who sees what — in the domain of culture as well as news and commentary — is governed by opaque and proprietary software.

It’s only on platforms where controversy and drama are prioritized for driving engagement where we’re rewarded for despising each other.

Social media showed that everyone has the potential to reach a massive audience at low cost and high gain—and that potential gave many people the impression that they deserve such an audience.

For one, social-media operators discovered that the more emotionally charged the content, the better it spread across its users’ networks.