Recent Pew Research poll reveals that Americans are afraid of the fact that they cannot discern a social media bot from an actual human.Social media bots are automated online tools that can create/ generate content without human involvement. Generally, social media bots are considered bad and have already been condemned by Congress. Also, social media sites have been actively investigated over spreading false information or bringing up issues that might create political dissonance.
The poll surveyed around 4,581 U.S. adults during July and August.Poll stats show that about 47 percent of people have heard about bots already, and feel confident about identifying bots on social media. However, another study by PEW in 2016 assured that 84 percent of Americans could easily identify a bot. Just to put it straight, the poll doesn’t identify the percentage of people affected or fooled by the social media bots. Instead, the report informs about the ‘potential’ fools for these social bots. Yes, the report identifies the percentage of people who think that they can be fooled out by social media bots or would fail to discern a bot on social media. If we look into the details of this study, we come to know that about 66 percent of Americans know about bots to some extent. Whereas 34 percent of Americans are completely ignorant of the term. Around 75 percent of people, having a degree or democrat learning, were more likely to have heard about bots. People have a mixed view about bots. Around 11 percent of people, who knew about bots, consider using them for a positive reason whereas the other 66 percent are completely against the existence of bots. Moreover, a few from the latter category, agree over the fact that a debate on this issue can lead to a better conclusion. A learned trend from this research suggests that as soon as people get to know about bots in detail, they are less likely to support the existence of social media bots! The poll somehow nudged the ignorant percentage to think over bots. Social media bots, yay or nay? What’s your take on it? Let us know in the comment section below.
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