SOCIAL ANXIETY Acebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat
MARCH 2020 SOCIAL ANXIETY acebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat. Social networking platforms like these connect billions of people each day, spreading information instantly on a global level. A connected world seemed like a great idea in the early days of Silicon Valley. But now it’s clear that social networks are dangerously good at spreading fake news and extreme views — F and igniting information wars, something that’s especially vexing in an election year. Historian and author Niall Ferguson explores the fascinating history of social networks in Niall Ferguson’s Networld, a new three-part series based on his bestselling book, The Square and the Tower: Networks and Power, from the Freemasons to Facebook. From the Protestant Reformation and 17th-century witch hunts, through the American Revolution and the nightmare visions of Orwell’s 1984, Ferguson examines the intersection of society, communication, technology, and cultural movements throughout the ages, revealing how human behavior, disruptive technology and the desire for profit can energize communication, create and destroy hierarchies, and ultimately change the world. Ferguson unpacks how social networks operate through conversations with network theorists, social scientists and data analysts. He examines historical examples illustrating the parallels between railroad and telegraph titan Jay Gould, publishing giant William Randolph Hearst, and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt; former Facebook product manager Antonio Garcia Martinez; Stanley McChrystal, former head of Joint Special Operations Command in Iraq; and Alex Stamos, former head of security at Facebook, are among those sharing insights. Discover how the worldwide web shifted from a decentralized, not-for-profit entity to a highly profitable network controlled by a tiny elite selling our attention to advertisers, and how our democracies may be threatened by forces that exploit and weaponize social networks.
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