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Would Twitter Make President Obama 'Follow' the Tea Party If the Price Is Right?
theodp (442580) writes Giving others the impression that individuals support something that they actually don't could get you fined and placed under house arrest. But if you're Twitter, it could boost your bottom line. Gigaom's Carmel DeAmicis reports that brands pay Twitter to falsely appear in your following list, an advertising technique brought to light by William Shatner after he saw that 'MasterCard' appeared in his following list despite the fact that he didn't follow it. "By making it look like someone follows an account that they don't," writes DeAmicis, "it sends a false signal that said user cares about that brand. Although the brands are marked as 'promoted,' it's not necessarily clear that the user in question doesn't actually follow the brand. There's ethical considerations to be had. Hypothetical examples: What if you're vegan and don't want people to think you're following Burger King? Or you're the CEO of Visa and don't want people thinking you're following MasterCard? Or you're a pro-life activist and don't want people thinking you're following Planned Parenthood?" Or, if you're @BarackObama and don't want people to think you're following @TPPatriots!
Oh please, just stop it. They are different political parties for a reason. Overstating that they are the same is about as useful as overstating that they are both interested in politics.
Either learn the differences or shut up. I'm sick of people spewing that there is no choice, there is. The choices might not split down the lines you want. You might have a position that no candidate is willing to promote. It's nearly impossible to get one person to embody everything you might want. But it is your unrealistic expectations that are to blame. There's not one person who is everything to everyone, and odds are your position on everything would make a poor platform for gaining and holding political office.
If you're pro-life, why would you not follow Planned Parenthood? Most of what they do is preventative health care for poor women who have no other access to such services - life saving proceedures like mamograms. Or are we talking the crowd that supports life only until birth - like the "pro-life" governors who refused the affordable care act medicaid expansion killing thousands of post-partum people a year?
This isn't true. This was a bug that has already been fixed.
Bogtha Bogtha Bogtha
Agreed. My first thought was the old saying 'keep your friends close, and your enemies closer'.
I monitor several gun opposition groups just so I know what they're up to in order to better oppose them. I'm sure they do the same to us. I wouldn't be surprised as a result that I'm counted as a 'member' in some circles.
Of course, then there's the militias where it turns out over half the 'members' are undercover officers....
I don't read AC A human right
Here's Why We Have a Lawless Gotcha Capitalism Economy: "Gotcha Capitalism rewards bad behavior. It turns the normal reward function of capitalism on its head. Instead of good companies with good products and creative innovation rising to the top, we have companies that refine their gotcha mechanisms rising to the top. They create just enough surprise to walk the thin line of the law...or slip over it, but not enough to do something that might actually have a material impact on the bottom line. If you like my line of thinking, I've written an entire book about this - you can buy it here. But for now, know this: Until bad behavior starts resulting in material impact, companies won't stop. And we'll remain stuck in the sucker economy."