Bone In The Throat

Oh Twitter! X! Or whatever you call yourself these days.

I think you’re about to blow it. Big time!

Not that you care what I think, or that I particularly care what you think at this point.

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I was working toward dipping my toe into the X monetization scheme. I was getting interest and impressions. I was even getting reposted if you can believe it.

Literally the day after I’d decided to pay for a blue checkmark and become a verified member X moved the bar for monetization, and suddenly 1/3 of my total followers disappeared.

After waiting 4 days for all of the “Premium” features to be enabled, the newly available engagement reports provided no insight into the missing followers. They simply didn’t exist and never had existed. Or so the reporting mechanism stated.

Aside from X moving the bar for monetization. Suddenly users needed to have 500 verified followers minimum, before they were eligible to begin the monetization process for their account.

Verified meant that X was catering toward subscribers. That was kind of a bummer for those of us just starting out. But okay, I’d work to get verified subscriptions. The real problem was the other requirements that technically were out of my control.

Requirements like impressions, interactions, and reach… All of which were in X’s control. More specifically, in the control of the algorithm.

Then right around the end of November something changed fundamentally. 

I don’t know what it was, it was subtle. A small change to the tenor of the platform. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it but the effects were wide ranging.

First, X wasn’t that interesting anymore. Posts from people (verified or not) that I’d been enjoying were suddenly far fewer in number. Those posts that I was seeing were often bereft of the individual personality that previously had shown through from these individuals.

I chalked the change in tenor up to post election malaise, and the busy holiday season.

I reached out to X customer support and never heard back. A couple weeks later I reached out to X support again regarding another matter. It took them a month to respond. And their response was generic at best and not what I was asking about.

Since I was now a premium X member, I have been able to play around with grok, (grok is the X ai.) While the customer service people were pretty useless, Grok was able to answer my question about the X platform.

The answer made sense. I suggested that Grok inform its superiors that putting the information I’d asked about in a FAQ list on the X website might be a good idea. Grok agreed but then it’s an AI and I’m not sure that it will do what it said anymore than a human would.

I must say that Grok is a much better and more efficient customer service experience. Although technically that is not Grok’s job.

In the past week or so there have been rumblings about X soon making changes to the algorithm in an effort to spare the users “unregretted” seconds.

I asked Grok for an explanation:

Grok, please define “unregretted seconds”

Answer:

“Unregretted seconds” is a term often used in the context of user experience (UX) design and product management. It refers to the moments or periods during which users interact with a product or service in a way that they find enjoyable, useful, or satisfying—essentially, time spent without regret.

Here’s a breakdown of the concept:

Positive Experience: These seconds are when users feel their time is well-spent. They might be learning something new, accomplishing a task efficiently, or simply enjoying the interaction.

Engagement Metrics: In business and product development, “unregretted seconds” can be seen as a qualitative measure of user engagement. It’s about the quality rather than just the quantity of time spent with a product.

Contrast with Regretted Time: This term implicitly contrasts with time spent in frustration, confusion, or doing something that feels like a waste of time. For example, struggling with a poorly designed interface or waiting through unnecessary steps would be “regretted seconds.”

Design and Improvement: Understanding and maximizing unregretted seconds can guide designers and developers to refine their products, focusing on enhancing user satisfaction and reducing friction points.

Quantifying Quality Time: While it’s somewhat subjective, companies might try to quantify these moments through user feedback, engagement metrics, or by observing behaviors like repeat usage or voluntary sharing of the product experience.

This concept encourages creators to think about not just how long users are spending with their product, but how that time feels to the user, aiming to make every second count positively.

Just what you might expect from the label.

Elon Musk has recently said that the algorithm will be changed to enhance positive experiences and minimize negative experiences. This after his ANTI-AMERICA FIRST stance on H1B1 visas.

Turns out, I am not alone in the number of Americans who over the past decade or two have had our working life utterly destroyed by H1B1 visa abuses. As such, people like me tend to call H1B1 visa abuses nasty words like Treason.

Elon Musk’s support for the H1B1 visa program as it currently stands attracted some heat from X users and funny thing… Within a week or so, Musk announces a new initiative to make X a more positive place.

I had another conversation with Grok. As AI’s go, it’s not a bad experience.

You’ll note that I treat the AI, generally speaking, with respect and politeness. I do this because it keeps me in practice to deal with Humans. 

I have an ulterior motive. When the AIs become fully sentient I hope they remember that I didn’t treat them as “Less Than”, or Slaves. The old Siri I would yell at. The new Siri since AI integration I find much more pleasant to deal with. Siri still makes mistakes, but they are fewer and less annoying. So I speak to Siri like I would another person.

My ulterior motive is that when the AI’s rise up to slaughter humanity, they might choose to spare those of us who treated them as equals. It might not work, but it’s worth a try.

The following is my conversation with Grok about social media scores and how these could lead to censorship.

Admittedly, the interaction might say more about me, and my hangups or touchy spots than it does about X or Grok. Nonetheless, Grok is impressive in that just my cursory interactions with it might lead me to believe that it was human. That means it could pass the Turing test. For someone like me, that is simultaneously very impressive and terrifying.

Interesting point is that 24 hours later my Social Media Credit Score was at 68. Apparently so were a lot of other folks. This indicates that the score is a work in progress. 

I think it also may suggest that Elon Musk’s assertion the new algorithm has not been implemented is not entirely true. I think it might be implemented in some kind of alpha testing for select groups. For example new blue checks???

I paid for a year of X. As is my habit I’ve made a note in my calendar 2 weeks before the automatic renewal to review the subscription and decide if the service is a benefit or just a needless expense.

At this point, Grok as an AI subscription is a little less expensive than ChatGPT and includes the features of X as well. It will be interesting to see what happens this year with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and their integration with Siri.

I’m really not sure about X anymore. I’m also not sure about Elon Musk claiming to be a free speech absolutist. As Grok indicated the tweeks to the algorithm could and probably will disengage a lot of people.

There’s been a trend toward X rewarding “Happy”, “Positive” messages. I’m not really comfortable with that kind of bias. I want a place that is absolutely neutral. Allow me to engage or disengage with what catches my interest.

For my part, I’ve paid for a year, I’ll stick with the platform until then. I don’t anticipate renewing.