The other day, I found myself "Google+'ing" an article because I like the title, but as I was reading, I realized that I didn't like what the author of the piece was stating, nor did I agree with him.
Nevertheless I thought the article was interesting because it challenged my belief system, my knowledge, and my observations.
He did make a few good points, so the article was worth reading, but I didn't like it.
It bothered me, it rattled me, and it shook the core of some of my own theories and research.
In the end, I do believe I had defeated that gentleman's viewpoints in my mind.
Nevertheless, with all of this said I would submit to you that many people will; like, plus, or add articles to their social network based on the titles and not the actual content.
This could be problematic for the individual who is doing so, because an intelligent algorithm might also find them as a false positive for the wrong things.
They may be inadvertently labeled as a possible suspect, supporter of terrorism, or some other dastardly thing.
When in reality all they were trying to do was add interesting information to their social networking page.
Most of the articles that I go through which are news or science related, I only scan briefly, I look for content which is of interest to me, that which I disagree with, or some nuance that is being reported.
If I plus an article, it's because I found it interesting, not necessarily because I agreed with it, or even liked it, I may have hated it, but felt that the other viewpoint was worthy of mention, well stated, and something to think on.
However, someone that doesn't read the articles, just looks at the titles is liable to click on a title that they like, without reading any more past the first paragraph.
I would submit to you that this does a disservice to that particular venue, topic, or subject.
It's as if one is rubberstamping what was written, as what they believe, and someone on a social networking page with thousands of friends and followers would be an influencer of other people's opinions.
Can you see the problem? Further, if the individual made no comment when they posted the like, plus, or when they added that particular article to their social networking page, how on earth could you possibly know where they stand on the subject? A friend or follower who is reading that posted an item, may not read it either, but they may also plus it or like it.
Sometimes people do this just to support their friends, in hopes that their friends will come to their page and support them in reciprocation as well.
It seems like it's a big game of meaningless dribble, with everyone trying to influence everyone else to the point of absurdity.
Of course the absurdity starts with a single action of promoting bad content.
I think I have a problem with that.
Please consider all this and think on it.