{"id":409659,"date":"2018-03-14T07:38:54","date_gmt":"2018-03-14T07:38:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=409659"},"modified":"2018-03-14T07:38:54","modified_gmt":"2018-03-14T07:38:54","slug":"reddit-holds-secret-fixing-facebook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=409659","title":{"rendered":"Reddit holds the secret to fixing Facebook"},"content":{"rendered":"

South by Southwest Interactive is a festival that used to have a reputation as the place to create a buzz for a new social network or product.<\/p>\n

Yet these days, SXSW’s focus is less about developing apps, and more about developing society. A society that, thanks to technology which some of these attendees created, feels in need of repair.<\/p>\n

One of the most interesting products being discussed this year isn’t new at all.<\/p>\n

Reddit somehow seems to fly under the radar for the average person, despite being the sixth most popular website in the world.<\/p>\n

But while its ugly aesthetic – and often, ugly content – is alienating to many, there is much to admire.<\/p>\n

In fact, I’d go as far as to say Reddit provides a model for how to create a more interesting, fairer web. A model that doesn’t drag down other publishers in the process.<\/p>\n

Reddit’s system – where users upvote things they like, and downvote things they don’t – is about as transparent as it gets on today’s algorithm-dominated web.<\/p>\n

You can see how many votes each item has attracted, with a few exceptions. You know which user posted it and when, and what the source of the information is. You can choose to rank your own page accordingly – adding and subtracting topic pages, known as subreddits, to your pleasing.<\/p>\n

Contrast this to the black box of Facebook, an impenetrable tangle of calculations which are a mystery to everyone outside its HQ, and I’d wager to most inside too.<\/p>\n

Gaming the system<\/strong><\/p>\n

Facebook recently polled its users on which news organisations they found most trustworthy. It has shared neither the results nor which content is being boosted or demoted as a result.<\/p>\n

Yet companies are destroyed and created as a consequence.<\/p>\n

With Reddit, though, it’s right there on the homepage. As I write this, the top item on the site – about a person conquering drug addiction – is there because 49,600 people felt it worth my attention.<\/p>\n

This voting system has its downsides. Putting Reddit’s mechanics out in the open makes it easier to game the system.<\/p>\n

\"Reddit\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Steve Huffman, Reddit’s co-founder and current chief executive, remarked at length at SXSW about r\/The_Donald, a subreddit used by President Trump’s supporters and Trump himself during his 2016 campaign.<\/p>\n

Despite calls from some users that the section be taken down for flouting rules on hate speech, Mr Huffman has stood firm on keeping it up, with a few measures to limit its spread.<\/p>\n

“It’s crass and offensive and that is part of their identity,” he said.<\/p>\n

“[But] there’s a difference between conflicting with our values and conflicting with our content policy.”<\/p>\n

Most troubling to observers is The_Donald’s role as a thriving hub for conspiracy theories. It may not be the origin of vicious content – such as suggesting school children involved in shootings are actors – but it is the leading amplifier.<\/p>\n

\"The_Donald<\/p>\n

So, it was no surprise to many that Reddit was – like Facebook and Twitter – a target for state-backed Russian trolls.<\/p>\n

“We’ve had a handful of conversations with Congress,” Mr Huffman said. “They’re asking what’s going on. We’re on the same team.”<\/p>\n

Middle man<\/h2>\n

Reddit’s problems with propaganda – and other unsavoury content – shouldn’t mask the positive effect this site has on the internet at large.<\/p>\n

While Facebook tries to keep users inside its walls, Reddit actively encourages visitors to go elsewhere.<\/p>\n

This is the healthiest way to maintain the internet economy – it gives content creators the best chance of making the most of these eyeballs.<\/p>\n

A front-page Reddit spot typically delivers millions of views – though this can be a mixed blessing: sites unable to handle the load refer to this as the Reddit “hug of death”.<\/p>\n

Crucially, Reddit does not currently insert itself as a middle man to skim off advertising dollars. Once you click the link, you’re gone.<\/p>\n

By contrast, Facebook and Google have developed faster-loading page formats. These are being used to serve ads to sites that had typically earned revenue independently – though Facebook and Google would argue they’re creating a bigger pie.<\/p>\n

And that’s just the beginning. When Facebook ramps up its efforts to sell subscriptions to others’ content, its grip on their financial security will get even tighter.<\/p>\n

Quality interactions<\/strong><\/p>\n

At a separate panel at SXSW, Facebook’s head of news, Alex Hardiman, spoke about the company’s attempts to promote “quality” news over untruths or clickbait.<\/p>\n

Reddit offers a solution, giving prominence to articles that users feel are important and\/or enjoy rather than simply “engage” with.<\/p>\n

\"Facebook<\/p>\n

This is an often overlooked difference between these two networks. As it stands, Facebook doesn’t care if your reaction to something is positive or negative, so long as you react.<\/p>\n

In all its efforts to help users flag offensive material, Facebook has failed to a create a tool to let them signal that something isn’t worth their time.<\/p>\n

Under Reddit’s upvote\/downvote system, clickbait headlines often sink quickly, while long, descriptive titles, leading to genuinely insightful information, thrive.<\/p>\n

The Reddit community, more often than not, rewards originality and creativity – and punishes inauthenticity.<\/p>\n

Immature<\/h2>\n

But there are difficult times ahead for Reddit.<\/p>\n

Its team of just 300 or so is ill-equipped to tackle some of the issues it faces.<\/p>\n

For starters, Mr Huffman’s suggestion that users can competently self-regulate the site is misguided. YouTube once believed the same, and look where that got it.<\/p>\n

Mr Huffman himself may be a weakness – his reckless decision in November 2016 to secretly edit the comments of Trump supporters was breathtakingly stupid and only energised those convinced the world was conspiring to silence them.<\/p>\n

“I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on this,” he said about the incident.<\/p>\n

“I will say to our community team, I’m sorry. I ruined their holiday. To The_Donald, they’ll be just fine.”<\/p>\n

He should be sorry. The edit infuriated a huge number of Reddit users, not just Trump supporters, and highlighted that the platform’s self-governance was not mature.<\/p>\n

On the same day that Mr Huffman appeared at SXSW, the web’s inventor – Sir Tim Berners-Lee – published a letter.<\/p>\n

“What was once a rich selection of blogs and websites has been compressed under the powerful weight of a few dominant platforms,” he wrote.<\/p>\n

Reddit has the power to help reverse this trend.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South by Southwest Interactive is a festival that used to have a reputation as the place to create a buzz for a new social network or product. Yet these days, SXSW’s focus is less about developing apps, and more about developing society. A society that, thanks to technology which some of these attendees created, feels […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":409660,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[106],"tags":[17870,15533,17869],"class_list":["post-409659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-facebok","tag-reddit","tag-steve-huffman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=409659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/409660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=409659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=409659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=409659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}