Crowd-Sourcing v/s Crowd-Sorcery

a reply to: ~Lucidity

A CASE IN POINT:

Ebola May Pose Little Threat to U.S., but It Looms Large on Twitter

…Ebola is trending on Twitter. Even a cursory hashtag search turns up, among the news articles and official announcements, expressions of fear, gallows humor and bad information. The virus can spread through the air? OMG! (It cannot.) A possible Ebola case in New York City? Time to pack for Mars! (It was not Ebola.)

Why do people feel compelled to post and rebroadcast jokes, rumors and dread of a distant disease that public health officials say is extremely unlikely to pose serious risk on this side of the Atlantic Ocean?

The science behind how and why ideas spread on social media is a growing area of research. At the most basic level, marketing experts say, people tend to share stories that stir their deepest feelings, whether positive or negative. To wit, frightful shark attacks routinely top the trending charts alongside cheerful cat videos and inspirational quotes.

ETA: Also see:

Yahoo News account hacked; tweets Ebola outbreak in Atlanta

……The Twitter account for Yahoo News appeared to have been compromised Sunday afternoon after it sent out a tweet that briefly panicked users.

“BREAKING: EBOLA OUTBREAK IN ATLANTA! Estimated 145 people infected so far since Doctors carrying the disease were flown in from Africa,” Yahoo News tweeted to its 815,000 followers. [Who proceeded to re-Tweet the "news."]

a reply to: soficrow
That's hacking.

a reply to: ~Lucidity

Erm. The first article is not about hacking. As stated in the article: The science behind how and why ideas spread on social media is a growing area of research. ....Good questions that go to the core of this thread - meaning we can't protect ourselves against this new era of media manipulation unless and until we understand the "how" and "why."

Ebola May Pose Little Threat to U.S., but It Looms Large on Twitter

…Ebola is trending on Twitter. Even a cursory hashtag search turns up, among the news articles and official announcements, expressions of fear, gallows humor and bad information. The virus can spread through the air? OMG! (It cannot.) A possible Ebola case in New York City? Time to pack for Mars! (It was not Ebola.)

Why do people feel compelled to post and rebroadcast jokes, rumors and dread of a distant disease that public health officials say is extremely unlikely to pose serious risk on this side of the Atlantic Ocean?

The science behind how and why ideas spread on social media is a growing area of research. At the most basic level, marketing experts say, people tend to share stories that stir their deepest feelings, whether positive or negative. To wit, frightful shark attacks routinely top the trending charts alongside cheerful cat videos and inspirational quotes.

originally posted by: soficrow
a reply to: karmicecstasy

.My concern is with Social Engineering, Macro-social marketing, Social Manipulation. The fact that you choose to play self-aggrandizing minds games is of little concern to me. But thanks for disclosing and clarifying your motives.

Here Come the Crowd-Sorcerers: How Technology is Disrupting the Humanitarian Space and How Easy It Is

Posted on July 27, 2010

I’ve recently been cc’d on an email thread in which a humanitarian group has started to “air out some latent issues and frustrations” vis-a-vis the use of crowdsourcing in emergencies. I applaud them for speaking up and credit them for coining the fantastic term “crowd-sorcerers” which is brilliant!

Is that what I was doing lol. For someone who is concerned with, social engineering, macro-social marketing, social manipulation. You really do not see that I was in fact supporting what you wrote. By giving a real world ATS specific example of, social engineering, macro-social marketing, and social manipulation on a micro level. ATS is a social media site.

Then you further my point by posting an article about how twitter is being used to show how the science behind how and why ideas spread on social media is a growing area of research. Further proving your crowd-sorcery has nothing to do with crowd-sourcing. That you were using a bit of clever word play, and crowd-sorcery of your own, which is fine. That your crowd-sorcery is about the manipulation of social media to sell an idea.

I am not attacking you. I have been agreeing with you the whole time lol. Yet you still see it as an attack on your premise and not an agreement. You have the right to believe that. So this will be the last I post in this thread. Because I want more people to see your point and learn about this stuff. If you think my every post is attacking you or self-aggrandizing minds games, that might not be accomplished.

So great thread and sorry you did not see what I was doing. I should of been blunt instead of using crowd-sorcery of my own as a real world teaching example, I guess.

originally posted by: ~Lucidity
a reply to: soficrow
That's hacking.

Okay, the first is about gossiping, and the second is hacking.

I don't see what either example has to do with either crowdsourcing or crowdsorcery, really. Gossiping and embellishing is what a lot of people do, no matter what the medium (over a backyard fence or via Twitter or Facebook), and hacking or hack pranking is what other people do.

originally posted by: ~Lucidity

originally posted by: ~Lucidity
a reply to: soficrow
That's hacking.

....Gossiping and embellishing is what a lot of people do, no matter what the medium (over a backyard fence or via Twitter or Facebook), and hacking or hack pranking is what other people do.

Yes - people spread gossip - that's how the rumor mill works. Social media being the rumor mill on steroids.

Point of this thread being - best evaluate how you're being manipulated, if not who's doing the manipulating for what purpose.

originally posted by: soficrow
a reply to: tridentblue

I completely agree. My situation is, I share all my devices with my children. Trust me when I say I'm monitoring them, I don't need to see what's interesting for them too!

a reply to: Iamthatbish

Good for you - but this isn't just about monitoring - it's about "deconstructing" the media to see what's being pushed, how we are being herded - and where. It's about analyzing the agendas behind all the pushing and herding that's going on.