COMM110 forum response
forum response minimum of 150 words.
Social Bots
The Issue in this article is about Social bots and how they flood social networks like Facebook and Twitter. They are “automatic software programs that perform repetitive tasks to gather data from the internet. Bots can automate tedious and time-consuming processes efficiently, but they can also be deployed to mine users’ data or manipulate public opinion.”(Burkhardt, J. 2018 March 1.) The pros of this issue, is that we have a team from the US Defense Department called, The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency that compares bots to a human user, and based on factors such as behavior modeling, text, analysis, network analysis and others: they can identify malicious bots and stop them before they complete their tasks. This article also mentions some security precautions for users to take to protect themselves and help the community there in as well. Some cons of the Issue may state that not all bots are malicious and may help put a much needed agenda attention or point into a positive direction. This Issue should be read and shared throughout the Medias, to heighten awareness of this issue, as we are all targets for these creations. The Issue impacts our life, because in one medium or another we are all in the presence of social networks or multimedia that show some sort of news or coverage or side of a topic. Bots, upon succession of whatever their programed to do, whether it persuade a group of people to one side of the issue, or mine information from thousands of people to use for advertising or worst, can greatly threat the social network community we all live in. Social bots are everywhere in majority of the medias and we must be attentive to distinguish or at least report them whenever the opportunity comes up, to ensure safe and secure browsing in our community.
Burkhardt, J. (2018). Social Media Bots. American Libraries, 49(3/4), 47–47. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/2006753778/