Julissa 🇵🇷

Article: The political effects of X’s feed algorithm Abstract: Feed algorithms are widely suspected to influence political attitudes. However, previous evidence from switching off the algorithm on Meta platforms found no political effects1. Here we present results from a 2023 field experiment on Elon Musk’s platform X shedding light on this puzzle. We assigned active US-based users randomly to either an algorithmic or a chronological feed for 7 weeks, measuring political attitudes and online behaviour. Switching from a chronological to an algorithmic feed increased engagement and shifted political opinion towards more conservative positions, particularly regarding policy priorities, perceptions of criminal investigations into Donald Trump and views on the war in Ukraine. In contrast, switching from the algorithmic to the chronological feed had no comparable effects. Neither switching the algorithm on nor switching it off significantly affected affective polarization or self-reported partisanship. To investigate the mechanism, we analysed users’ feed content and behaviour. We found that the algorithm promotes conservative content and demotes posts by traditional media. Exposure to algorithmic content leads users to follow conservative political activist accounts, which they continue to follow even after switching off the algorithm, helping explain the asymmetry in effects. These results suggest that initial exposure to X’s algorithm has persistent effects on users’ current political attitudes and account-following behaviour, even in the absence of a detectable effect on partisanship.

Figure 2. ITT estimates of feed-setting changes on engagement and political attitudes. ITT effect estimates of switching the algorithm on and off (in s.d.). Left, effect of moving from the chronological to the algorithmic feed for users initially on the chronological feed. Right, effect of moving in the opposite direction for users initially on the algorithmic feed. For each outcome, the results of two specifications are reported. Blue, unconditional estimates with robust s.e., controlling only for the initial feed setting and, where applicable, pre-treatment outcome levels. Orange: conditional estimates, controlling for pre-treatment covariates using GRFs; 90% and 95% CIs are reported. Numerical effect sizes and P values correspond to the conditional estimates (all tests are two-sided). The unit of observation is respondent. From top to bottom, sample sizes are n = 4,965, n = 3,337, n = 4,965, n = 4,965, n = 4,596, n = 4,596 and n = 4,850. Tests are described in Methods. Supplementary Information Table 2.16 reports the exact numerical point estimates, s.e., CIs and sample sizes for every specification. All outcomes are standardized. Additional results are presented in Supplementary Information section 2. PCA, first principal component from principal component analysis.

X's algorithm is in fact doing what you think it's doing. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

DEARLY BELOVED. WE ARE GATHERED HERE TODAY TO DISMANTLE THIS THING CALLED ICE

Minneapolis for the win.

I don’t want this to get lost in the conversation - the light blue Puerto Rican flag is our original flag. It was designed to match the light blue in Cuba’s flag. This is the flag that was banned.

Yes, it has been adopted as a symbol of independence, but that’s not its only history.

So many errors and misconceptions are running around as facts on this site. I’m begging people to talk to an actual Puerto Rican

So many errors and misconceptions are running around as facts on this site. I’m begging people to talk to an actual Puerto Rican

I felt something visceral when I saw those power poles, and everything they meant. What an incredible public“fuck you” to our incompetent government. I’m so proud 🇵🇷

No Kings includes Draft Kings

ICE is now responsible for 66% of the homicides in Minneapolis this year.

We don't have to live like this.

There’s kanopy, and there’s also hoopla, which also has audiobooks and music. My library has both!

just having access to Kanopy through a local library gives you instant access so many new and classic movies!

charred

**Important: Graduate WORKERS union

WE WON!!!!

The Penn State Graduate Student Union is now the second largest public sector union in Pennsylvania!!!!

“Tell your children who the cowards were.”

Puerto Rican tattoo artists are using Bad Bunny’s residency to flaunt their artistry — and educate tourists Tourists flocking to Puerto Rico for Bad Bunny's residency shows want more permanent souvenirs than T-shirts. Local tattoo artists are meeting the demand with creative designs that honor Boricua herit...

www.latimes.com/delos/story/...

This might be of interest! My tattoo artist gives some quotes here (and yes, I do have one…I’ll get to the survey tomorrow)

Windows 98 Plus! - Underwater

bad bunny on stage at his residency in Puerto Rico , a giant Puerto Rican flag is displayed on the ceiling

🇵🇷🇵🇷🇵🇷🇵🇷🇵🇷🇵🇷🇵🇷🇵🇷🇵🇷

who

Trans people are worth protecting. Not because we are amazing people (although we are) or because we offer a great deal to society (although we do) or because we are fine as hell (we are). We are worth protecting because we are HUMAN BEINGS, and it’s amazing how often that simple fact is forgotten.

📌

Those of us in STEM must vocally affirm that the humanities are our allies, and no department is expendable. Arguing we can survive by cutting whole disciplines isn’t just inhumane, it’s nonsensical. The humanities tell us why we’re here in the first place, and what to do about it! This isn’t hard!

Managed to lasso this stunning Puerto Rican blue-tailed ameiva (Pholidoscelis wetmorei) yesterday! 🦎💙

why aren’t his ears tan?

This season has such bad vibes!

Two blue footed boobies walk in unison on sandy, grassy ground

Maybe he just likes the birds

I don’t think anyone is prepared for what they just did w/ ICE.

This is not a simple budget increase. It is an explosion - making ICE bigger than the FBI, US Bureau of Prisons, DEA,& others combined.

It is setting up to make what’s happening now look like child’s play. And people are disappearing.

Jason Stanley, philosopher and expert on fascism said “You know you're living in a fascist society when you're constantly going over in your head the reasons why YOU are safe.”