Let me show you how it works
Engagement bait has been around for ages, but no app takes it to such absurd extremes as Threads. There’s no more toxic cocktail than the mean-spiritedness of Twitter mixed with Facebook’s outrage-based algorithm. In fact, I’ve grown to assume that every boneheaded and rude take I come across there is just someone desperately trying to game the platform for engagement. It’s Provocation Central.
As to why I post there? Well, it used to be different at first. It was a pretty chill place, actually! And I enjoy being able to provide actual engaging content. But I know better than to even take a look at the “For you” feed.
You can find my latest comics over at Patreon and Ko-fi, weeks (months now!) before they are published here. Thank you for supporting my work!
Strange, I haven’t been getting that on Threads… but I mainly post news items of interest to me and my Bible reflections. However, since the news articles I post are often quite provocative, e.g. against the racism shown by politicians, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Palestine/Israeli conflict, freedom of the press, etc. I would expect there to be some naysayers… but all I got was no reaction (the most common), ❤️, or very occasional comments. No trolls yet… 🤷🏽♂️
That’s actually great to hear, that it’s not the same across the board. I was talking with someone recently and he had a similar experience to yours, so perhaps it has to do with some of my interactions early on, when I thought some accounts wanted genuine discussion on tricky subjects. Since the app saw I responded to that kind of posts, it kept sending more and more to my feed, even after I wised up. Classic Facebook trap! I should probably engage with more genuine, kinder accounts to counteract this.