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Analyze this: Twitter wants to know how it can be more positive for society
As social media platforms take a long, hard look in the mirror following censure over their political and psychological effect on society, Twitter Inc. wants to better understand its role going forward.
In a blog post today, the company said it intends to measure the “overall health of the public conversation” and is presently seeking outside experts for “counsel and support.” Admitting some things need to be fixed — think spam, toxic conversation and political manipulation — the company said it’s open to proposals that address these issues.
“We love instant, public, global messaging and conversation. It’s what Twitter is and it’s why we‘re here,” Chief Executive Jack Dorsey (pictured) said in a tweet. “But we didn’t fully predict or understand the real-world negative consequences. We acknowledge that now, and are determined to find holistic and fair solutions.”
In a series of tweets, Dorsey went on to say that Twitter isn’t proud of how people have taken advantage of the platform to foment division and sometimes Twitter has been slow to address the issues. He also said more needs to be done other than enforcing its terms of service.
“We have witnessed abuse, harassment, troll armies, manipulation through bots and human-coordination, misinformation campaigns, and increasingly divisive echo chambers,” Dorsey wrote. At the same time, he said, when Twitter has tried to fix this, it has been accused of political bias, censorship, apathy or thinking only about the bottom line.
The time has come, says Dorsey, not to treat the problem by pruning the leaves, but to fix Twitter at its roots. That means using a holistic approach to better understand how to promote healthy conversation.
“What we know is we must commit to a rigorous and independently vetted set of metrics to measure the health of public conversation on Twitter,” he said. “And we must commit to sharing our results publicly to benefit all who serve the public conversation.”
Anyone can submit a proposal on how to help make this happen, with submissions open now until April 13. Successful applicants will partner with Twitter and funding will be given for the project. In July the first projects will be announced to the public.
Image: JD Lasica via Flickr
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