As part of my humble “media tour” for Framed: A Villain’s Perspective on Social Media, I’ve been invited onto some podcasts. Last Friday, I was a guest on Dan Hafner’s show Tech Bytes. Episode #398 of Tech Bytes marked my first-ever published podcast appearance—and the first recording of me speaking since I tried to make Pokémon videos during the pandemic.

Dan and I covered a lot of ground. Though I had some idea of what he would ask, podcasts are a unique challenge. After spending years writing a book, my ability to think on my feet is diminished. Yet, I’m realizing that some of the “big ideas” behind Framed are perhaps best expressed in this format, not buried beneath bulky text blobs.

I’ll use this post to extend a special thanks to Dan and to summarize our conversation for those who don’t want to listen to me talk for thirty-five minutes.

“Nobody has really told the story yet”

I wouldn’t have written Framed if there were two dozen books already written about black hat marketing and botnet wrangling. We have “true crime” books about hackers and we have sociological books about big tech and the internet. Until I published this book, we were missing the intersection of these two genres.

We don’t have books like Framed, where the author challenged the terms of use of the platforms and profited from “bad guy” activities that were not strictly illegal. Of course, nobody has told my story, but as I researched other topics, I found that so many subject areas had been neglected.

What you get in Framed is not a rehashing of the “same old stuff” that gets re-published with new credentials every three weeks. It’s a completely original work that even the most dedicated internet users have found to be eye-opening and authentic.

I never was an insider

I never worked in Big Tech. In the purest sense, I am not a whistleblower. However, the closest one can come to working in Big Tech is to exploit technology platforms. In doing that, the rogue software engineer learns more about the systems than any pundit could hope to.

I later worked at a mobile app startup were I was an insider leading “special projects.” This brought me even closer to what happens inside the tech giants of today.

Anyone sharing authoritative opinions on systems they never built or exploited cannot possibly be an expert.

“The effect of algorithms on emotions”

One of the most troubling aspects of persuasive technology is how easily these systems can be used to influence emotions. Framed contains quotes from children’s health experts who claim that the spectrum of emotions on the internet is natural because “social” media resembles real life. I don’t disagree, but it’s a problem when the algorithms may be provoking emotions (and confrontations) that would not be present in real life.

I talk about Plutchik’s “Wheel of Emotions.” Social media is perhaps “good” if the primary emotions are joy, surprise, amazement, and interest. However, Plutchik proposed that each emotion is paired with its opposite—I believe that this is widely applicable to social media.

In Framed, I provide examples of the types of experiences I have had on Instagram that led to me feeling each one of these 24 emotions.

Young adults who don’t yet have the ability to identify AI-generated content are also being told, “Oh, that’s AI".

Can you imagine being twelve years old browsing the internet today? How could a kid possibly differentiate between AI content and what’s real? I admit in Framed that sometimes I’m baffled myself, and I have to rely on ancient investigation methods like checking a user’s post history.

The issue with kids now is that they listen to “influencers” who tell them to suspect content is “AI” just because it’s not agreeable or because it’s unorthodox. If a generation is raised without the ability to think for themselves or positively identify suspicious accounts, then suspicious accounts will prevail.

Repost

In discussing the “dead internet” theory, I reminded Dan that we’ve always had content recycling, spinning, and low-effort attempts at “karma farming.”

What’s been totally lost, and what didn’t make it into the book, is that reddit users used to be vigilant about recycled content, shouting down any repeat with the cry “repost!”

We never see this anymore. Probably partially because reddit has two magnitudes more users now than in 2011.

The Email List is Supreme

If social media is all bad, what is a business owner to do? Dan’s podcast deals primarily with business owners, not rogue has-beens like me. Many of the topics he has been discussing recently have come down to, “Why isn’t <this platform> working out for my business?”

When asked, “What do I do?” my advice is that the business owner does the same thing I’m doing—focusing on an email list. It’s important to have an audience that is “owned” and that is agnostic of any social media platform, where a following can disappear overnight.

That said, thanks for being a part of my small mailing list! If you have any friends who might be interested, share my posts with them and nudge them to sign up!

Podcast Lineup

I hope you enjoyed this post and that it helped convince you that Framed is worth reading!

I have two more interviews this week and one completed interview in post-production. If you know of any podcaster who might want to have me on, reach out!