According to Harvard Business School, Wikipedia maybe the most balanced website out there. But it wasn’t always like this. But over the years, they moderated toward neutral ground. Now, many believe Wikipedia to be about as balanced as an encyclopedia. As a result, we can thank the contributors and editors for this.
Also, they noticed certain political phrases don’t appear in Wikipedia as much. Phrases often used by Republicans include ‘death tax’ and ‘secure the border’. In addition, phrases often used by Democrats include ‘tax breaks’ and ‘change the rules’. You’ll hardly find these phrases in a Wikipedia article. Harvard Business School professor?Shane Greenstein commends Wikipedia for striving be neutral. Many writers started their careers leaning hard toward one political party or system. So that’s how they started their Wikipedia journey. But over the years, most have gone neutral. Furthermore, Wikipedia has a manual of rules that talk about how to behave. They urge their writers not to go too far either way.
I’m not saying Wikipedia is perfect. I won’t even call it the best news source. But in an era and season of so much rhetoric, I’m glad somebody can be neutral. It’s enough when you got Facebook friends pulling you every way. But you have media sites and talking heads pulling us every way. And most of this rhetoric isn’t pretty. In fact, it’s the ugliest I’ve ever heard. My parents, aunts and uncles, who came of age in the Turbulent Sixties, say they never heard it this bad. Aren’t you glad there is some neutrality in a world of insanity?
Twitter is one of the most revolutionary social media sites of all-time. They should be thriving, right? But they’re not. In fact, Twitter is struggling…Twitter is bleeding.
This week, Twitter contemplates laying off 300 employees. That’s eight percent of their entire work staff. While they did the same thing last year, this year should be different. Also, this is not written in stone. So the number is hopefully lower, or it could be even higher. Furthermore, sources don’t want to be identified. Nobody wants to say these hindering things about their own company.
These same sources say the lay-offs could come even before Q3 2016 results come out. That report should come out this Thursday. But Twitter representatives aren’t talking about that, either. Yes, Twitter is in trouble. Sales are down. Advertising revenue is falling. In addition to that, they explore a buyout. But even potential buyers have no interest. Companies like Salesforce and Walt Disney expressed interest. They changed their mind. So Twitter can’t even sell out of their troubles. Even the stock market turned against them. Stocks fell 40% in just 12 months. As I write this, Twitter stock fall 4.45% in just two hours! How can they pay their staff with those kind of falling numbers? Furthermore, how can they compete with Facebook and other social media sites with such failing numbers?
So is laying off employees an option? I hope not. I hate for anybody to lose their jobs, especially due to something that isn’t that person’s fault. But even this fix is temporary, assuming this works at all. Twitter has tried so hard to get back on track. They put in place harsher rules to cub trolling and bullying. They tried allowing longer tweets. Then they offered NFL games on Twitter feeds. But now that NFL ratings are down, that’s all up in smoke. What is Jack Dorsey to do?
I say this because there are several incidents. First of all, there’s the drama within the Kardashian family over Rob’s fiance Blac Chyna. Rob tweeted out Kylie Jenner’s phone number to the world in a social media rant. Rob published other personal information of Kylie’s. In addition to that, Kim K. allegedly released a private conversation between husband Kanye West and pop star Taylor Swift. This was due to unflattering lyrics about Swift in Kanye’s song “Famous”. This video went on Snapchat in July 2016.
There are also sexual humiliation and revenge porn. During an online rap beef between online Kanye West and?Wiz Khalifa, reality TV star Amber Rose posted intimate, embarrassing details of West’s sex life. Keep in mind West and Rose dated for a time. When teen idol Grace Moretz stood up for Swift on social media, Khloe Kardashian struck. She posted photos of a woman looking like Moretz. What’s wrong with that? Moretz’s impersonator was almost naked from the waist down and on top of a strange guy. This borderlines on sextortion.
Furthermore, there are other examples of celebrities bullying celebrities. One can look at our presidential candidates, even our world leaders. While there have always been celebrity beefs, rarely has it escalated to this. I am NOT in the business of reporting Hollywood gossip. That’s not what this blog is about, and it’s not what I’m about as a man. But a point needs to be made. Whether we like it or not, whether they like it or not, celebrities are role models. Millions of teens look up these people. Cyber bullying is not the message you want to teach our kids. They need to handle their beef privately, and/or use such platforms to forgive and respect each other. ? If that weren’t bad enough, the people I mention have kids of their own! What are they teaching their own children about cyber bullying?
Yesterday, I addressed the issue of fake news. Facebook faces scrutiny. That’s because six weeks after firing editors, fake news stories still make trending pages. Now, meet Google News’ fact check feature.
Effective today, fact checks will appear on news stories. As a result, fact check labels will include ‘opinion’, ‘local source’ and ‘highly cited’. Hence, Google leaders look forward to fact check. Due to this, Google hopes to separate fact, from opinion, from spin, from outright tabloids and lies. These labels are are available on the Google News site. Also, fact check labels are available on Android and Apple smart devices. Furthermore, these labels are only in the United States and United Kingdom . But you can bet they’re coming in other nations. They just need a while to get popular.
So I’ve said it before: Facebook really tries to clamp down on fake news. It doesn’t seem to be working all the way. But five fake stories out of millions: I’ll take that as a good start. And they don’t have a fact checking system like this. In fact, some accused the social media conglomerate of literally promoting fake news. I’m glad Facebook tries to get it’s act together. Thankfully, others Internet companies, like Google, are too.
This couldn’t come at a better time. Look at the mudslinging in this election. Listen at the bickering between the US and Russia. Take a listen to these talking heads in our media. Read the Hollywood gossip so many Americans obsess over. In one poll I read, about 6% of Americans trust their mainstream media. I wonder why. We need the truth. We need it now. Our country and our world are at a critical stage. Nothing but the truth will help us. I hope fact check systems will help us get the truth. Will Claim Review help us get the truth?
Last weekend, after Hurricane Matthew, I read a disturbing story. It seemed like in Florida, a riot occurred at a mall. Thirty-one people died. That’s what I read in a Facebook article. But something didn’t seem right. That’s because the story was fake. There was no riot at a mall. Nobody died in violence. There was no violence. Lets’ see how Facebook deals with the fake news epidemic.
Six weeks ago, Facebook revamped their trending system. Yet, a group called The Intercept conducted an experiment. How much fake news would they find? As a result of their experiment, quite a few. They discovered five stories that were blatantly fake. Another three were inaccurate. And that’s an understatement. In addition, blog posts from blog site Medium made it through the Facebook feed. So did links from iTunes.
Furthermore, they probably didn’t catch every false news story. How can they? That’s because Trending tailors to each Facebook account. Your trend feed won’t be the same as somebody else’s. However, some stories top the news…or lack thereof. Some trending stories include how a man was kicked off Clemson University campus for praying. Clemson quickly called the story false. Seems like the iPhone 7 can perform magic tricks. That’s according to Facebook trending stories. Then there were those ugly fake stories concerning Fox News correspondent Megyn Kelly.
Consequently, Facebook has no comment. What can we do to stop this trend? Quite a bit. If a news story sounds too fantastic, check out other news sources. In no news source backs it up, you know it’s fake. If something doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t. I read my article and just felt something wasn’t right. I’m glad I checked. The story isn’t real. Remember that the next time a celebrity dies. If the person really has passed on, mainstream news sites worldwide will cover it. If it’s a hoax, no self-respecting, trustworthy news medium will cover it. I try not to even click on stories that sound fake. Don’t even give them the attention. What else can we do to quell fake news?
I’m about to say something surprising: One of the premier social media companies is looking for buyers. Yes, Twitter looks for buyers! Two or three years ago, I thought I’d never utter such a phrase.
One potential buyer would have been Google. Speculators believe Google should be the top buyer of Twitter. That’s not happening. In fact, tech insiders say Google is not and never was interested in purchasing Twitter. What about Apple? They show no interest. ?Disney is a likely candidate. Not anymore. As of now, Disney makes no bid offer. Insiders throw Facebook’s name in the hat. I highly doubt this will happen. Speculators say this isn’t because nobody wants Twitter. A bidding fight is happening. But hired bankers pump up excitement just to increase bids.
The purchase of Twitter will happen. It may not come overnight. The buyer may not be Google, Disney, Apple, or any other major global corporation. Salesforce shows some interest. But Twitter stocks tumble. In one day, Twitter stock fell nearly 20% in one day because of this bidding contest, or lack thereof. In late 2014, their stocks were over $60 ?a share. Today, stocks struggle to be $20 a share. Unless someone, or some company, clears up this process, stocks will continue to decrease.
I never thought this would happen. I always thought Twitter would remain it’s own entity. When it debuted in the late 2000s, it rivaled Facebook for social media supremacy. ?Now, it’s virtually under the auctioneer’s hammer. Apple and Google may not need Twitter as bad as Disney might. Cable subscriptions are down. That’s Disney’s bread and butter. Twitter could replace cable as a premier outlet for promotion and content. People already watch NFL games on Twitter. Why not watch Disney backed entertainment (it pains me to say this, but this includes the Star Wars franchise)? Who will eventually buy Twitter? Who should eventually buy Twitter?
