I sat down with former Stanford Internet Observatory researcher, Renee Diresta, to discuss her new book ‘Invisible Rulers’ which dives deep into the dynamic between influencers, algorithms, and online crowds. Much of her work focuses on rumors, propaganda, and understanding how narratives spread across social media networks.
Chapters
0:00 - Intro
0:55 - Social media user vs influencer
2:50 - Definition of ‘invisible rulers’
4:39 - Definition of ‘propaganda’
5:26 - Is propaganda always negative?
7:20 - Definition the ‘the rumor mill’
9:34 - A rumor vs misinformation vs disinformation
12:30 - Definition of ‘bespoke realities’
14:03 - How the understanding of propaganda has evolved
19:47 - Independent media vs legacy media
24:08 - Community Notes on X/Twitter
26:16 - The weirdness of “For You” feeds
29:39 - The characterization of women online
31:14 - Influencers being pressured to speak on heavy topics
35:30 - Why “the right” can often be more social media-savvy
37:51 - Social media is part of most jobs today
42:01 - Cancel culture is a thing and employers are ill-prepared
46:17 - Some design solutions to think about
50:27 - Outro
You can find Renee on
https://www.threads.net/@renee.diresta?hl=en
https://www.instagram.com/renee.diresta/
Read “Invisible Rulers”: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1541703375?linkCode=spc&tag=onamzjulester-20&creativeASIN=1541703375&asc_item-id=amzn1.ideas.1HHHY9CZRN3MJ&ref_=aip_sf_list_spv_ons_mixed_d_asin
You can find "Fishbowl with Jules Terpak" on
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Intro animation by Chad Lynn: https://www.chadlynn.com/
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