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Very fine Article at The Atlantic. Remember, think of the children, and comment responsibly.
It's harder and harder to have an honest debate on the internet. Social-media platforms like Twitter, Reddit, and Facebook Groups are rife with trolls; forums are plagued by archaic layouts and spambots. Teenagers who are looking to talk about big issues face additional frustrations, like the fact that most adults on these platforms don't take them seriously.
Naturally, they've turned to Instagram. Specifically, they've turned to "flop" accounts—pages that are collectively managed by several teens, many of them devoted to discussions of hot-button topics: gun control, abortion, immigration, President Donald Trump, LGBTQ issues, YouTubers, breaking news, viral memes.
Just when I get a Facebook account, they have all moved!
The accounts post photos, videos, and screenshots of articles, memes, things, and people considered a "flop," or, essentially, a fail. A flop could be a famous YouTuber saying something racist, someone being rude or awful in person, a homophobic comment, or anything that the teen who posted it deems wrong or unacceptable. Some of the teens who run a given account know one another in real life; more likely, they met online.
Uh-oh, I am starting to suspect something.
"Flop accounts bring attention to bad things or bad people that people should be aware of. We also post cringeworthy content for entertainment purposes," said Alma, a 13-year-old admin on the flop account @nonstopflops.
According to teens, flop accounts began as a way to make fun of celebrities and popular YouTubers, but sometime over the past year they've morphed into something more substantive: a crucial way to share and discuss opinions online.
"Content [on flop accounts] is centralized around things that we think are factually or morally wrong, and it's how we critique them," said Taylor, a 15-year-old in Illinois who is an admin on a flop account. "Today, for instance, I posted a flop that was this lady making fun of someone for being homeless. That's a horrible thing to do."
Kids! Huh! What do they know?
The main thing teens who engage with flop accounts share is a strong distrust of the news media. Teens said they turned to flop accounts specifically because they didn't believe what they read in the news, saw on TV, or even were taught in their U.S.-history class, since, as one teen saw it, their teacher is just one person giving an opinion. Teen flop-account admins and followers said they found information on flop accounts to be far more reliable because it could be crowdsourced and debated.
Wow. Well. We just wait for the next generation, eh? Worked before. The barbarians actually cleaned up nicely.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by realDonaldTrump on Wednesday August 01 2018, @08:48AM (1 child)
One thing I’ve learned about the press is that they’re always hungry for a good story, and the more sensational the better. It's in the nature of the job, and I understand that. The point is that if you are a little different, or a little outrageous, or if you do things that are bold or controversial, the press is going to write about you. I've always done things a little differently. I don’t mind controversy. The result is that the press has always wanted to write about me.
From a pure business point of view, the benefits of being written about have far outweighed the drawbacks. It's really quite simple. The funny thing is that even a critical story, which may be hurtful personally, can be very valuable to your business -- or your sex life. Make friends with the top execs in the media and there is no limit to what you can achieve.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 02 2018, @03:03PM
It's so scary when you make sense