<billions> links - twitter, town squares and networked information futures

[Sam de Silva]

Dear all,

The moderator of this list has not died (yet), but some would say that social media and the digital town square has. In reality, digital platforms and their owners are just adapting to maximise power and influence. And one thing is clear - billions around the world still consider themselves to be users (not addicts) and there’s even a greater need for us to understand the impacts social media/digital platforms have on the world around us. 

So, I am making another attempt to kickstart the Billions email list - to continue to share links related to digitally networked social media and information flows. We’ll also be leaking in some links related to games, crypto and web3.

The Musking of Twitter raises new and old questions about what this net thing/s is/are all about and as usual, if you have anything that should be shared - please do send them through. 

Look forward to feedback and comments, best, Sam

Links

Meta shares rise after the Facebook parent lays off over 11,000 employees as it cuts costs <https://finance.yahoo.com/news/meta-shares-rise-facebook-parent-125108397.html> - Yahoo Finance - 10 Nov 2022 - Meta shares rose 7.5% Wednesday after the company said it will lay off over 11,000 workers.

The Age of Social Media Is Ending <https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/11/twitter-facebook-social-media-decline/672074/> - The Atlantic - 10 Nov 2022 - We cannot make social media good, because it is fundamentally bad, deep in its very structure. All we can do is hope that it withers away, and play our small part in helping abandon it.

From powerhouse to plummeting: Here’s a timeline of FTX’s collapse <https://www.protocol.com/fintech/ftx-collapse-timeline> - Protocol - 10 Nov 2022

Twitter Users Have Caused a Mastodon Meltdown <http://wired.com/story/twitter-users-mastodon-meltdown/> - Wired - 9 Nov 2022

Social Media Is Dead <https://www.vice.com/amp/en/article/pkgv79/social-media-is-dead> - Vice - 8 Nov 2022 - What we call social media networks are anything but. Now that they're beginning to unravel, we should ask what it would take to create social media for people, not advertisers.

Is the global decline in democracy linked to social media? We combed through the evidence to find out <https://theconversation.com/is-the-global-decline-in-democracy-linked-to-social-media-we-combed-through-the-evidence-to-find-out-193841> - The Conversation - 8 Nov 2022 - There are no simple yes or no answers. There is, however, evidence that digital media impact political behaviour globally. This evidence warrants concern about the adverse impacts of social media on democracy.

Musk’s Twitter takeover comes as the CCP steps up its targeting of smart Asian women <https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/musks-twitter-takeover-comes-as-the-ccp-steps-up-its-targeting-of-smart-asian-women/> - Australian Strategic Policy Institute - 6 Nov 2022 - The  CCP has stepped up its disinformation and coercive capabilities towards women of Asian descent reporting critically on China—including journalists, researchers and human rights activists.

Events

What’s governing Web3? <https://www.rmit.edu.au/events/2022/december/whats-governing-web3-symposium>
Web3 has produced a wave of governance experimentation with consequences for how protocols evolve and whose interests they serve. At this public event, leading researchers will come together to present field-defining findings arising from current work, and provide policy-oriented insights and solutions on blockchain-enabled Web3 governance.


From the recent past…

Our Misguided Obsession with Twitter <https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/our-misguided-obsession-with-twitter> - The New Yorker - 2 May 2022 - The social-media platform has become a spectacle driven by a narrow and unrepresentative group of élites.

Emergent Technologies and Extremists: The DWeb as a New Internet Reality? <https://gnet-research.org/2022/08/01/emergent-technologies-and-extremists-the-dweb-as-a-new-internet-reality/> - GNET - Aug 2022 - This report asks how extremists are already exploiting the decentralised web and how they could exploit it in the future. 


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