SXSW 2023

 

Dear Community, In the mid 2000s, the pioneers of social media hailed their new platforms as a way to bring humanity closer together and to keep us better informed about the world around us. In more recent years, social media has come under fire for significantly widening the fractures and divisions our society — and for completely blurring the lines between fact and fiction With this context, we asked some of the highly talented speakers for the 2023 Conference whether social media is any better equipped to handle misinformation and manipulation now than it was eight years ago, when Donald Trump's command of this form helped propel him to the White House. Candice Digby - Design Community Meet Up: I haven't seen convincing evidence that it is. While these platforms have dedicated full teams to finding misinformation and labeling it, the amount of content to review, and the lack of efficacy of the warning labels for people who already support and believe in the speaker, makes the current protocol inefficient. As a marketer, Trump is a case study in how to use social media to its full power. He posts in short, hyperbolic sentences, and never speaks above an 8th grade level, which is ideal for social platforms and mass consumption (especially Twitter). David Dylan Thomas - Inclusive Design: A Bias-Informed Practice: If anything, it's worse. The fundamental business model hasn't changed. Facebook revealed with their Natural Engagement Pattern in 2018 that the closer a piece of content gets to being "prohibited" (e.g. misinformation, hate speech) the more engagement it gets. That means that as long as engagement = ad dollars, you're going to see a lot more misinformation and hate speech. Donald Harris - Developing the Next Generation of Game Industry Talent: In this current climate, I don't think social media at large is ready to handle misinformation ahead of the upcoming 2024 election. It’s clear that users will take any information they receive and spread it without doing any additional research, regardless of the “misinformation warnings. To me, this is where the issue really lies and that’s hard to stop. Eric Deggans - A Conversation with Eric Deggans: In some ways, social media is better prepared. Sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram know that their subscribers are acutely aware of the problems with misinformation and disinformation on their networks — particularly regarding political issues — and many of them expect these platforms to do better at limiting such material. Unfortunately, the purveyors of such material have gotten better at insisting that their messaging be featured on these platforms, despite its corrosive and often misleading impact. The result has left some consumers more confused than ever, doubting legitimate efforts to curb misinformation while amplifying platforms and personalities who are at best untrustworthy and at worst, riddled with problematic material. Recent backtracking on the suspensions of people like Donald Trump will only make it more difficult to hold high-profile purveyors of misinformation accountable, while more average users are overpoliced. Truly controlling the spread of misinformation will require more sustained and coordinated effort from social media platforms and less kowtowing to disingenuous and inaccurate pushback from ideologues looking to derail measured and fact-based discussions. Javon Goard - Black Joy Within Gaming Culture: We must not forget that social media platforms run not just on technological networks, but also human biases and ideals. Social media platforms would be better at handling misinformation if those behind the technology and those using the technology share in the responsibility and education of making social media platforms more hospitable for all. Laurie Frick - Data Art as Time Capsule of the Anthropocene: Social media is somewhat better equipped than 2016. Better at blocking bots but less clear on the rules of engagement for what’s acceptable content. Truth and facts are still hard to come by. Meanwhile, users have social media fatigue and the impact of Facebook is nothing like a few years ago. A better question is how will TikTok handle the 2024 election? Meryl Evans - Watercooler to Headset? The Future of Workplaces: Social media is moving backward in its ability to handle misinformation and manipulation as it's already evident. It's a serious problem that needs addressing as some believe anything without researching it. Moriba Jah - Why We Need Empathy to Save Earth, Space, Humanity: Social media, when leveraging large scale computing, can curate multi-sourced heterogeneous data and minimize misinformation by quantifying the statistical consistency in the presence of independent sources of data and information. Rebecca Fannin - Silicon Heartland: The New Frontier of Tech Innovation: Social media has put in more roadblocks to potential misuse than eight years ago. In the more than a decade since social media took off, users have become more aware of misinformation on the sites, and how it can be spun. Trust is earned or lost by individual content creators, and followers beware. The platforms are maturing, recognizing there's a strong need for more safeguards to evolve as innovations continue such as with ChatGPT and as false voices grow louder.     Sian Proctor - EarthGlow: An Astronaut’s Perspective: I think with awareness comes opportunity to learn and to do better. I remain optimistic that we will be able to take on the deep rooted social and racial challenges with the help of technology and that we will eventually become a Star Trek generation united globally. At SXSW 2023, learn more about the current state of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and various other platforms by attending sessions such as How Teens Really Feel About Social Media, Media Profits by Amplifying Hate: Can We Fix It? and Safeguarding Social Media for Marginalized Groups. Registering to attend SXSW 2023 today to experience this great programming next month. Special discounts can be had for groups and students. Great downtown hotel rooms are still available, but register now to maximize your options. When fact is fiction, Hugh Forrest Co-President / Chief Programming Officer @Hugh_W_Forrest