27 NOV 2018 by ideonexus
Emotional Contagions in Social Networks
These results highlight several features of emotional contagion. First, because News Feed content is not “directed” toward anyone, contagion could not be just the result of some specific interaction with a happy or sad partner. Although prior research examined whether an emotion can be contracted via a direct interaction (1, 7), we show that simply failing to “overhear” a friend’s emotional expression via Facebook is enough to buffer one from its effects. Second, although nonverbal behavior i... 1 
notes
notes25 OCT 2017 by ideonexus
Knowledge Replaced with Social Media
When it emerged towards the end of the 80s as a purely text-based medium, [the internet] was seen as a tool to pursue knowledge, not pleasure. Reason and thought were most valued in this garden—all derived from the project of Enlightenment. Universities around the world were among the first to connect to this new medium, which hosted discussion groups, informative personal or group blogs, electronic magazines, and academic mailing lists and forums. It was an intellectual project, not about co... 1 notes
notes02 SEP 2016 by ideonexus
The Majority Illusion in Social Networks
Social behaviors are often contagious, spreading through a population as individuals imitate the decisions and choices of others. A variety of global phenomena, from innovation adoption to the emergence of social norms and political movements, arise as a result of people following a simple local rule, such as copy what others are doing. However, individuals often lack global knowledge of the behaviors of others and must estimate them from the observations of their friends' behaviors. In some ...Folksonomies: cognitive bias
Folksonomies: cognitive bias
1 notes
notes20 DEC 2013 by ideonexus
Social Fragmentation is Freedom
Urbanism—the city dweller's way of life—has preoccupied sociology since the turn of the
century. Max Weber pointed out the obvious fact that people in cities cannot know all their
neighbors as intimately as it was possible for them to do in small communities. Georg
Simmel carried this idea one step further when he declared, rather quaintly, that if the urban
individual reacted emotionally to each and every person with whom he came into contact, or
cluttered his mind with information about the...
1 People lament the watering-down of interpersonal relationships in social networks, but total relationships--with all their faults and positives--restrict our freedoms and overwhelm us.
03 DEC 2013 by ideonexus
Algorithm that Presents Opposing Viewpoints
Social networks allow people to connect with each other and have conversations on a wide variety of topics. However, users tend to connect with like-minded people and read agreeable information, a behavior that leads to group polarization. Motivated by this scenario, we study how to take advantage of partial homophily to suggest agreeable content to users authored by people with opposite views on sensitive issues. We introduce a paradigm to present a data portrait of users, in which their cha... 1 notes
notesIntended to break people out of their protective circles that generate extreme viewpoints, it presents opposing viewpoints that won't offend. Tricky.
15 NOV 2013 by ideonexus
The Internet as a Brain
The brain is one of the most complex networks in the world, with more neurons than there are stars in the galaxy. Its hardware is a complex network of neurons; its software a complex network of memories. And so too is the Internet a network. Its hardware is a complex network of computers; its software a complex network of websites. There is a lot we can learn from the brain and it can tell us where the Internet is headed next.
[...]
In practice, the Internet is clunkier, slower, and smaller...The question for me is: How do you detect the intelligence? If we are only interacting with neurons, how to we see the big picture?
05 AUG 2013 by ideonexus
Social Networks "Flatten" Social Structures
Visibility has its cost; in order to make broader social networks vis-
ible, Friendster flattens those networks, collapsing relationship types and contexts into the ubiquitous “Friend.” More problematically, Friendster does not provide ways of mapping or interpreting the contextual cues and social structural boundaries that help people manage their social worlds. Physi- cal distance, to abstract from the obvious, is not just an obstacle to build- ing social relations but is also the dimension...Folksonomies: information technology social networking
Folksonomies: information technology social networking
1 notes
notesThey create a new form of interaction, where people do not know the rules; therefore, they resort to experimentation to learn how to interact.
17 JUN 2013 by ideonexus
Beginnings of the Reputation Economy
The formal reputation networks that exist AF arose
organically from the informal social media developed
through the 21st century. An early barrier to
interacting with strangers online—particularly when
engaging in financial transactions—was not knowing
if the person you were dealing with was reliable.
Primitive reputation scores were the first solution,
enabling buyers to rate sellers. These systems rapidly
spread to social networks, discussion forums, and
filesharing sites, as a way of valua...
1 How an alternative economy based on reputation could form in the future.
09 JAN 2013 by ideonexus
The Naturalist's Concern for Death
But just because naturalists do not believe in a life after death does not mean that they don't care what happens after they die. I am deeply concerned, for instance, about whether my family members will be happy and successful after I am gone, whether my friends will continue the traditions we have established, and whether the world will be a better place because of my actions. I hope that what I do in this life will make a long-term difference in the world, though I will never know whether ... 1 notes
notesThey are concerned about the welfare of their loved ones, and the causal effects of their life rather than rewards in an afterlife.
31 JUL 2011 by ideonexus
Recommendations for Exposing Children to Television
1. Keep the TV off before the child turns 2. I know this is tough to hear for parents who need a break. If you can’t turn it off—if you haven’t created those social networks that can allow you a rest—at least limit your child’s exposure to TV. We live in the real world, after all, and an irritated, overextended parent can be just as harmful to a child’s development as an annoying purple dinosaur.
2. After age 2, help your children choose the shows (and other screen-based exposures) they w... 1 notes
notesNo television before age two, and when television is introduced, limit consumption and use watching television as a chance for interaction to have the child think critically about what they are seeing.
