In the second edition of Tech in the News which took place during the first week of December, PIT@UMass started an interesting conversation about rethinking social media. Moderated by Dr. Francine Berman, the conversation focused on two pivotal platforms – TikTok and Twitter.
The session kicked off with Professor Hamed Zamani presenting his perspective on why TikTok is so addictive and providing a breakdown of the underlying factors that have contributed to the growing popularity of the app – the interactive, dynamic user interface and the behavior tracking algorithms that match content to user interest and its impact on industrializing virality.
This was followed by a stirring talk by Professor Ethan Zuckerman tracing the takeover of Twitter by Elon Musk. He stressed on the importance of the platform in terms of its text-based content, asymmetricfollower-following network. Zuckerman also stated that Twitter allows people to tell their stories in front of a globalaudience, thus creating enriching social experiences and expanding the public information sphere.
He expressed concerns surrounding Musk’s declaration of turning Twitter into a ‘free speech’ space given the negative results that unregulated online spaces have left before. The discussions that followed dwelled into possible solutions to regulating the digital sphere.
Stay tuned for more upcoming Tech in the News events next spring!
Written by Harshita Snehi, PIT@UMass Student Assistant