Most important line in the article, in my opinion:
> Their selections exploit our negativity bias.
Which is true of a whole heck of a lot more than just mainstream news. Some people go overboard and try to get rid of all negative influences in their lives, but that's just going from one extreme to another.
A lot of social media is negative - because controversy inspires discussion, discussion means engagement, engagement means value.
There's too much focus in online engagement in the form of controversy and I'm of the opinion that it is a very bad thing. There's all kinds of room for innovation and disruption in the form of solutions that create healthier online engagement.
> Their selections exploit our negativity bias.
Which is true of a whole heck of a lot more than just mainstream news. Some people go overboard and try to get rid of all negative influences in their lives, but that's just going from one extreme to another.
A lot of social media is negative - because controversy inspires discussion, discussion means engagement, engagement means value.
There's too much focus in online engagement in the form of controversy and I'm of the opinion that it is a very bad thing. There's all kinds of room for innovation and disruption in the form of solutions that create healthier online engagement.