{"id":28504,"date":"2024-04-20T05:00:49","date_gmt":"2024-04-20T09:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/?p=28504"},"modified":"2024-04-19T20:12:36","modified_gmt":"2024-04-20T00:12:36","slug":"could-i-be-and-engagement-farmer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/20\/could-i-be-and-engagement-farmer\/","title":{"rendered":"Could I Be an Engagement Farmer?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I woke today to a panic on X.\u00a0 Elon Musk threatened, \u201cAny accounts doing engagement farming will be suspended and traced to source\u201d.<\/p>\n

I thought, \u201cOh no, the jig is up!\u201d<\/p>\n

Then I thought, \u201cWhat the hell is engagement farming?\u201d<\/p>\n

So, I did a search and found out, \u201cWell, to a large extent, we all go to social media either for or to give attention. It is in this context that this phenomenon known as engagement farming crops up. It\u2019s the art of cultivating interactions through cunning tactics rather than genuine content<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

It consists of, \u201c Leading questions\u00a0 \u00a0\u2026\u00a0 Inflammatory content.\u00a0\u00a0 \u2026\u00a0\u00a0 Clickbait headlines\u00a0\u00a0 \u2026\u00a0\u00a0 Desperate pleas.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s see.\u00a0 Check, check, check and check!<\/p>\n

Dammit, Elon Musk has caught on to me and is coming to get me!<\/p>\n

Now maybe I\u2019m wrong but doesn\u2019t the internet, more or less, consist of nothing but those things?\u00a0 You could say that clickbait is in the eye of the beholder but isn\u2019t that also the basis of the whole news industry?\u00a0 What is a 72-point headline but the paper equivalent of clickbait?\u00a0 Now sure, the subject must be something important if you blare it out there but the motivation is the same, get someone to bite the hook and buy the paper.<\/p>\n

Now sure, someone who actually cares about what they are writing has a somewhat different result.\u00a0 Intelligent people respond to intelligent writing and idiots don\u2019t.\u00a0 They stop at the point where a girl in a short skirt walks by.\u00a0 Now far be it from me to disparage girls in short skirts.\u00a0 They basically make the world go round.\u00a0 But there has to be something afterward to think about.<\/p>\n

So, if Elon Musk is saying he\u2019s going to remove the sex bot clickbait from his platform I applaud him.\u00a0 There are already enough outlets providing that media.\u00a0 But if he\u2019s going to eliminate the engagement farming won\u2019t there be nothing left at all?<\/p>\n

And I appreciate his desire to improve X and try to elevate the content.\u00a0 But in order to do that he should be working on his algorithms to find out how to differentiate actual engagement from bot traffic.\u00a0 And I hardly think any of us can help him there.\u00a0 It seems to me it will require the ability to differentiate AI from human responses.\u00a0 And to my mind the only way to do that is to monetize the interactions.\u00a0 In other words, people will pay to be entertained, bots by definition will not.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s a good point.\u00a0 The advertising model for entertainment has been blown up by the tech lords.\u00a0 Google and Facebook have monopolized advertising to such an extent that newspapers and television have been effectively driven out of business.\u00a0 The future will belong to subscription services.\u00a0 And I\u2019m sure Mr. Musk knows this.\u00a0 His trick will be to make the transition.\u00a0 His hope is to turn X into a one stop shopping location for news, entertainment and other information-based activities.\u00a0 Since he seems to be friendlier to people of my political persuasion I am more or less sympathetic to his efforts.\u00a0 I\u2019ve even bought a lower tier subscription to X and watch hopefully for some future benefits that his enterprises may afford me.<\/p>\n

But now I find Elon is gunning for me!\u00a0 We poor farmers of engagement are doing our best to absorb what little nutrients we can squeeze out of X traffic.\u00a0 And instead, we are hounded out of existence by the algorithm!\u00a0 Oh, the pain, the pain.\u00a0 Well, the show must go on.<\/p>\n

Could I be an engagement farmer?<\/p>\n

I wish!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I woke today to a panic on X.\u00a0 Elon Musk threatened, \u201cAny accounts doing engagement farming will be suspended and traced to source\u201d. 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