Our company, LiveWorld, survived when 80% of Internet companies folded in the 2001 crash and subsequently through other ups and downs in part because we became remote-centric. With two decades of operating a successful company whose employees work virtually 100% from home and are spread around the country in 46 states, for the first time […]
On August 8, 2023, an Atlantic and ProPublica article by Alec MacGillis was published and stated that social media could be fueling youth homicides. Today, I’d like to respond to that with a different point of view. The article covers an important subject and raises many good points. However, I do have some issues with […]
In a recent New York Times essay, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Lindsey Graham proposed a new federal agency to regulate social media and tech companies. As the CEO and founder of LiveWorld, the longest-standing social media-related company in the world (27 years), having overseen more than 3 million hours of content moderation and engagement managed […]
Elon Musk’s chaotic reign of Twitter, from a breaking system to erratic policies, to layoffs and fees with total indifference to the impact on people, users, brands, and partners has left the door wide open for another company to take over the lead in the text comment – micro-blogging space. Likely pushing Twitter aside and […]
The Louisiana federal judge’s injunction curtailing cooperation between the federal government and social media networks and the state AG’s petitions supporting it are ill-placed politicking and dangerous. I’ve been running, managing, and moderating online communities and social media networks for over 30 years, from leading Apple’s global online communities in the 90s, to moderating AOL, […]
Reddit: Oh what a tangled web we weave, when at first we slap our value creators in the face. While it’s understandable that Reddit wants to monetize its content, the service’s new API charges and its heavy-handed response to moderator protests are ill-conceived. Especially since almost all of the content comes from either these same […]
Elon Musk has bought Twitter and sought to remake it in his own image. That was his first mistake. Every move since then flies in the face of content moderation best practices and is destabilizing Twitter. Still, a good understanding of best practices can save Twitter. Meanwhile, brands can and must continue to make Twitter […]
Lots of talk goes on these days about what’s wrong with Facebook and social media. Much of the conversation focuses on teen self-esteem, misinformation, and privacy. People make generalized fix-it statements, such as “break it up” or “get rid of engagement algorithms,” that realistically won’t solve the key issues. Some suggestions would likely have very […]
While applauding Duff McDonald’s effort to cast a light on structural ethics problems in business with his Nov 27 Vanity Fair article on the Miseducation of Sheryl Sandberg, I take issue with his placing the blame on the Harvard Business School (HBS). There is more at work here regarding individual choice and overall culture. The […]
Last week’s election victory by Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez has been widely reported as a stunning upset in part due to her aggressive use of social media. Did she win just because of social media? No. Did social media take her from self-professed goals of impacting the dialogue with a 30-40 point showing to a 57% win? […]
