Sam Liebeskind
@samliebeskind
product partnerships at New_Public; previously community & growth @ Geneva
Sam Liebeskind
Social Media Algorithms Can Shape Affective Polarization via ...
arxiv.orgpolarization vs coexistence & cohesion and
There is widespread concern about the negative impacts of social media feed ranking algorithms on political polarization. Leveraging advancements in large language models (LLMs), we develop an approach to re-rank feeds in real-time to test the effects of content that is likely to polarize: expressions of antidemocratic attitudes and partisan animosity (AAPA). In a preregistered 10-day field exper- iment on X/Twitter with 1,256 consented participants, we increase or decrease participants’ exposure to AAPA in their algorithmically curated feeds. We observe more positive outparty feelings when AAPA exposure is decreased and more neg- ative outparty feelings when AAPA exposure is increased. Exposure to AAPA content also results in an immediate increase in negative emotions, such as sadness and anger. The interventions do not significantly impact traditional engagement metrics such as re-post and favorite rates. These findings highlight a potential pathway for developing feed algorithms that mitigate affective polarization by addressing content that undermines the shared values required for a healthy democracy
Technology cannot fix the fact that freedom is an endless meeting, but it can make the meetings shorter and less painful with new collaborative tools and by automating the worst of the bureaucracy
There’s one other thing related to the questions of civic life and democracy that we have been talking about. If democracy is this challenge of people coming together to figure out the kind of shared lives they want to forge, then the behaviors that they use to negotiate difference are going to flow from the commitments they have to each other. So... See more
Sam Pressler • Building societal structures to hold the messiness of our relationships
The essence of positioning is sacrifice. You must be willing to give up something in order to establish that unique position. Nyquil, the nighttime cold medicine, gave up the daytime market. The focus of most marketing operations is just the opposite. They look for ways to broaden their markets by line extension, by size and flavor proliferation,
... See moreJack Trout • Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind
One of the best ways to grow community engagement is to ask for feedback, take it seriously, and act upon it with excitement. The feedback loops and demonstration of it do wonders for investment from members.
TLDR: If you truly give a damn, they will too
Mike MacCombietwitter.comIt’s tricky, because, you know, we’ve created it as these spaces that are controlled. And they’re economically, you know, managed in particular ways. Yes, the individuals are, you know, co-constructing these systems. Absolutely. But they’re doing it within an environment that has been defined for, you know, value extraction, not necessarily for... See more
UW Madison professor of journalism, Sue Robinson, recently publishedHow Journalists Engage: A Theory of Trust Building, Identities, and Care . In it, she names the new roles and skill sets that those working in journalism need to invest in so that information can be used and trusted. They include:
- Relationship Builder
- Community Collaborator
- Community