I have been on the edge with twitter and reddit for a while and I have finally deleted my accounts that I have had for a very long time there. They are no longer the places I used to know, even more so with twitter. I am ready for my new time here and on mastodon.

Hello Lemmy

  • floofloof@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    9
    ·
    1 year ago

    A lot of it seems to be repost bots these days, and it’s impossible to know whether the upvotes they get are real or coming from other bots.

    • Skuitarist@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      1 year ago

      I’m largely ignorant to the mechanics of the attention economy in mass social media spaces, but what’s the point of having bots post on social media platforms, only to be mass upvoted and interacted with by other bots? Like who benefits from that and how? Why is that a thing?

      • LasagnaCat@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        My guess is bots circle jerk other bots and those accounts will (at least appear to) have large audiences, which may be valuable to advertisers or the like.

      • floofloof@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        Karma farming, where you boost up the reputation of an account so you can sell it. Propagandists and marketers will pay more for an account that looks like a real user in good standing. So you keep the account busy and raise its karma by whatever means, including repeating formerly popular posts and using bots to boost them.