Can Data Lie? Social Media Titans’ Super-Speed Recovery and the Pervasive Disputes (III)

Three Reflections in Ecological Contradiction

Dazzling earnings figures and various hidden dangers; the inertia of business development and external pressure.... Social media, regardless of size, may be facing a similar ecological contradiction.

Some time ago, the popular documentary The Social Dilemma explores social media and its effects on society caused by its availability, including impacts on users’ mental health, the shaping role of human civilization. The Social Dilemma is a pun. On the one hand, it is a dilemma brought about by social media. On the other hand, it is a dilemma faced by social media itself.

In some degree, these two aspects of meaning are one body with two sides, and mutual cause and effect. Social media brings a lot of “problems”, which makes it more vulnerable to criticism, and then makes itself fall into the dilemma of runaway users, downward advertising revenue and declining social reputation.

So, how can the industry alleviate these internal ecological problems? Jason Morgese, founder and CEO of Leavemark, a niche social product, once wrote about three reforms that social media platforms should take when faced with difficulties. We’ve come up with three recommendations:

1. Balance Fact Checking

On social media, fact-checking is critical, but it’s not as simple as paying lip service to make the algorithm smarter and the people who manipulate it better.

The dilemma of Facebook and Twitter can happen to many platforms. How to strike a balance between checking extreme false statements and ensuring users’ social autonomy requires the concerted efforts of platform strategies, products and operations.