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What is Birdwatch on Twitter?
You’ve probably heard of Birdwatch on Twitter, but did you know that it’s an independent fact-checking tool? Birdwatch is a pilot program on Twitter that allows participants to flag and comment on tweets that they believe are misleading. The crowdsourced fact-checking process will eventually reach all 192 million daily users. Twitter is hoping that it will help it get rid of misinformation and promote the spread of facts.
Birdwatch is a moderation tool
As the world becomes increasingly distracted by fake news, Twitter is attempting to protect its reputation by introducing Birdwatch, a new moderation tool. While it may seem like a shrewd move, it also risks ceding some of its content moderation authority to its users. This may interest you : What is the Most Trending Hashtag on Twitter Today?. In doing so, Twitter could avoid unpleasant parliamentary inquiries, fines, and other unpleasant consequences. Still, the practicality of the tool will depend on how well the public and Twitter users perceive it.
In addition to being a moderation tool, Birdwatch also allows users to flag tweets as false and add public and private notes. The bird-like icon appears at the bottom of the tweet. You can also visit the Birdwatch tab to see what users have added. This feature has some early issues. The notes are full of sarcasm, trolling, satire, and partisan bickering. One note on Elon Musk, for example, reads, “I have a theory that Claire (Grimes) tweets from Elon Musk’s account from time to time.” While the app’s moderation abilities are impressive, it doesn’t give users any context to help them decide what Tweets to delete.
It allows users to flag and comment on potentially misleading tweets
Twitter recently added a new feature called Birdwatch to allow users to comment and flag tweets containing potentially misleading information. Users can now click on a tweet to add a comment and provide additional context. This may interest you : Can You See Who Views Your Twitter?. Unlike in Twitter’s comments feature, users are not required to make their comments public on Twitter. The comments appear only on the Birdwatch website for now, but Twitter is hoping to eventually integrate this feature into the main Twitter experience.
The Birdwatch application has two components: notes and ratings. The notes feature offers free fact-checking, which is done with a multiple choice question or an open text field. Users can also add relevant sources for more information. They can also view the notes on a tweet directly by clicking on it. The note may be helpful or misleading depending on the level of disagreement. Users can vote on the note to let other Twitter users know what they think about the information.
It allows participants to rate each other’s notes
In order to test the effectiveness of the Birdwatch on Twitter application, the Twitter team sampled some 10,000 participant notes. This group surveyed a random sample of Twitter users in the U.S. Birdwatch notes reduced the likelihood of misinterpreting tweets. Read also : How to Analyze Twitter Data. Participants will be able to rate each other’s notes and see their own notes. The notes appear on some tweets. Participants will be able to rate the quality of each other’s notes.
Tweets from counter-partisans are also rated higher by Birdwatch participants than those from their own party. This may be because users who participate in Birdwatch tend to rate tweets from co-partisans higher than those from counter-partisans. This is largely due to users’ political preferences, as they are more likely to rate tweets by Democrats than those from Republicans. In addition, a higher number of participants rate tweets from their own party as helpful than those from a partisan opponent.
It uses crowdsourcing to combat misinformation
Twitter recently launched Birdwatch, a tool for vetting and removing misinformation on Twitter. The tool allows Twitter users to add annotations to tweets to provide additional context and dispel falsehoods. Although annotations will be visible only to other Birdwatch users, the program is in pilot phase with limited participation in the US. Once the tool is launched widely, it will allow users to use it to identify the sources of information and flag misleading content.
The crowdsourced process of weeding out fake news has many critics. It places the burden of moderation on unpaid users, who are often the target of content that is inflammatory or offensive. However, platforms that make money from user generated content can position themselves as champions of free expression and cultural generativity. The method of crowdsourcing, however, can be widely used and cheaply deployed to combat misinformation.
