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Warning Our Way To Less Toxic Podcasting
Episode 8414th February 2022 • Podcast Pontifications • Evo Terra
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Evo Terra:

It's hard to have a conversation about using technology to

Evo Terra:

fight podcasting's misinformation and disinformation problems without being

Evo Terra:

called an anti-free speech commie.

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But I'm going to do it!

Evo Terra:

Hello, and welcome to another Podcast Pontifications with me, Evo Terra.

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Back in May of 2020, Twitter started an experiment in changing the tone, if you

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will, of the discourse on its service.

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Now, in brief, Twitter was testing to see if the equivalent of a tap on the

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shoulder and a subtle *throat clear* could get people to be, well, you know,

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less of an asshole to one another.

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Now, Twitter knows it's very easy to fire off a tweet in anger when

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you say, or in this case type, things that you may not really mean.

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And they know that it's easy to get worked up over a headline and

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blast and retweet or reply without actually reading the linked article.

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So for the last several months, they've given subtle, gentle, "Are

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you sure you want to say that?"

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and "Would you like to maybe read the article before you send your

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thoughts on it to the world?"

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messages after someone hits send.

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Now, they've announced some results recently, and those results are dramatic.

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31% of the people prompted with messages like those changed their behavior.

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9% of them deleted their tweet altogether.

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But 22% revised what they were going to say in the original tweet.

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Nearly a third of the people, when prompted to reflect on

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what they were about to do, actually changed their behavior.

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Now, granted, we don't have any data on whether or not the

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changes were better or worse.

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I understand that.

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We can hope.

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Well, you probably know as many people as I know who avoid Twitter because their

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timeline has become a toxic cesspool.

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Reducing the toxic cesspool by a third?

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That's a pretty compelling argument for expanding the test,

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which Twitter is going to do.

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Now, what does any of this have to do with podcasting?

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Well, I'll tell you.

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This is a total thought experiment on my part, so set aside your

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assumptions and come along with me.

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And this is going to sound like some crazy Big Brother, nanny state, liberal

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pansy bullshit I'm about to say, but please assume that I'm well aware of

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that and just play this out with me.

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Imagine something like this for podcasting content at the hosting level.

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You upload your media file and the system goes to work using A.I.,

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Machine Learning, and other advanced algorithms to analyze the words

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actually said during the episode.

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And in this fantastical world, potentially problematic sections, let's call them,

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could be surfaced and brought to the uploader's attention with a message like,

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"Are you sure you wanted to say this?"

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with a highlight of the section that's potentially problematic.

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Maybe even with some resources to help the podcaster understand what might

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be problematic about the statement.

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Now, hold onto your anger and your skepticism because another way to

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check this could be at the episode details - you still call them show notes,

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I know - or at the transcript level.

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This might be a little bit easier because Twitter has already

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figured out how to parse texts for potentially problematic text.

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But here again, a gentle, "Hey, you might want to look at this phrasing

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here," could potentially change some of the podcasters' behaviors.

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Now, I know you're in to point out all of the things wrong and

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dangerous with my idea, and I certainly want to address them.

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But first, I need to acknowledge that editing a tweet is a much easier prospect

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than editing a podcast episode that you spent many hours editing and assembling.

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To quote the noted philosopher, Jules Winfield, it ain't even the same sport.

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But what happened earlier in the episode?

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What if it happened earlier in the episode planning when you could make some changes?

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Imagine a Yoast or a Grammarly-style plugin that assisted you as you

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wrote your outline, put your notes together for this particular episode.

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Or maybe with Descript if you're using that to make a paper edit of your episode

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before you actually put it into your DAW.

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That's not all crazy sounding because we already accept and rely

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on tools like that to help make our content better as we publish.

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Again, just mentioned two of them, Yoast and Grammarly.

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Is it really a bridge too far to have them look out for missteps and, sure,

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I'll say it, misinformation that we may be unknowingly passing along?

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All right.

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So now's the time when you can yell at me.

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But before you do so I want to restate, I know how Orwellian this sounds.

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There are a lot of unanswered questions, like the obvious one

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who is the arbiter of truth?

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I also get that this is not going to do anything to curb those who are

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intentional creating and spreading disinformation on a podcast.

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I know.

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I get it.

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This is just an early idea.

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But scrutiny is coming to podcasting.

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And though it may offend our free speech sensibilities, I, by the way, am a

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supporter of free speech, still coming.

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There've been plenty of reports that don't paint podcasting in a flattering

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light when it comes to disinformation, misinformation, and even hate speech.

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And sure, you can assume that doing nothing is what we should do, but

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I think that approach is equally as naive as what I just put forth.

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But sure, light me up in the comments.

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I shall be back tomorrow with yet another Podcast Pontifications.

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Cheers!

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Podcast Pontifications is written and narrated by Evo Terra.

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He's on a mission to make podcasting better.

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Links to everything mentioned in today's episode are in the notes

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section of your podcast listening app.

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A written-to-be-read article based on today's episode is available at

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podcastpontifications.com where you'll also find a video version and a corrected

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transcript, both created by Allie Press.

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Podcast Pontifications is a production of Simpler Media.