Tag: social media

  • Where Does Power Consolidate on Bluesky?

    Where Does Power Consolidate on Bluesky?

    This piece appeared on Tech Policy Press and in Dutch on SamPol. In a matter of weeks, millions of X (formerly Twitter) users moved out of Elon Musk’s dark cave and sought the ‘blue sky,’ writes Nathalie Van Raemdonck. Since the US election and the appointment of Elon Musk to a position advising President-elect Trump,…

  • Why is it so hard to let Musk’s leadership sink in?

    Why is it so hard to let Musk’s leadership sink in?

    (this piece previously appeared in Dutch in Knack) With a kitchen sink he entered Twitter’s headquarters on Friday, making it clear to everyone that they should acquiesce to his takeover. “let that sink in”. Why do so many people find it hard to let it sink in that Musk is now at the head of…

  • What we can learn from conspiracists on social media

    What we can learn from conspiracists on social media

    (Parts of this piece previously appeared in Dutch in Knack.) By relying solely on traditional media, we might not be able to create group immunity with a COVID-19 vaccine. A wave of conspiracies has washed over the information ecosystem and play into people’s deep seated fears. Science communicators can learn from conspiracy influencers how to…

  • Banning online communities; is it too late to stop radicalization?

    Banning online communities; is it too late to stop radicalization?

    “Most women who claim they were raped were rapebaiting. If they just let ugly men have sex once in a while, the world would be better for everyone. It’s just sex, they need to get over it” This was a post from the now banned Subreddit /r/Incels. A community of men who claim to be…

  • The Great 2015 Reddit revolt

    Reddit’s foundations are crumbling. Disturbances are happening within the headquarters and the leadership. The frontpage of the internet is in anarchy. (Addendum: 2,5 years after I wrote this post, I came back on a lot of the opinions expressed in this post. The world had changed and I had been too naive to notice. I…