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VOA科学技术2023--The Year in Social Media

时间:2024-01-05 05:15:10

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(单词翻译)

The Year in Social Media

This year, social media services gained a lot of attention for their growth methods and for their influence.

The Associated Press recently looked back at 2023 to see what developments in social media were most important and what might be ahead.

Twitter becomes X

In October of 2022, businessman Elon Musk1 took over Twitter. He promised to make big changes at the social media service. Musk is known for leading the electric vehicle company Tesla and SpaceX, a space transport company. He bought Twitter for $44 billion dollars.

Musk dismissed about 75 percent of the company's workforce2 soon after the deal was completed. He said the dismissals were necessary to make Twitter more effective and to increase profits. He also announced plans to have Twitter users pay eight dollars a month to keep their verified accounts. Verified accounts are identified as belonging to people with a lot of followers3.

As chief, Musk also lifted some existing restrictions4 on users, including many well-known people who had been barred by earlier Twitter leadership. Former U.S. President Donald Trump5 was among the Twitter users whose accounts were reinstated.

Musk said those changes were part of a larger effort to protect the free speech of Twitter users. But critics said his plans were likely to increase the amount of harmful content and hate speech on the service.

This year, the AP noted6 that some LGBTQ groups have raised concerns that X is less safe. Some activist7 groups said they have left the service.

Many Twitter users chose to leave the service earlier this year because of Musk's changes. Some advertisers stopped doing business with the company. In October, X said it had over 500 million users and is adding users all the time. The company also said it has improved in combating misleading or false information by using Community Notes. X says it uses over 100,000 people to help confirm information.

Musk has said he hopes to change X into an "everything app" like China's WeChat. But it remains8 unclear if U.S. and Western users like the idea of using one app for nearly all their needs.

Social media competition

Many users criticized the changes Musk was putting in place at X. Other services aimed to provide competition.

Mastodon is a service from a German software developer that lets users share information across several apps. Bluesky is a service that came out of Twitter and has connections to former Twitter chief Jack9 Dorsey. Bluesky operates by invitation only.

Some users who did not like the changes to Twitter went to those services.

In July, the parent company of Facebook, Meta, launched another rival to X called Threads. Millions of people joined after the announcement. In December, Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company was testing "interoperability." That is an idea that lets people use their accounts on different services, or platforms. Zuckerberg said the company was performing a "test where posts from Threads accounts will be available on Mastodon and other services that use the Activity Pub protocol10."

Is social media good for children's mental health?

Social media's influence on children's mental health gained a lot of attention this year. The U.S. surgeon general warned in May that there is not enough evidence to show that children and teenagers are safe using the services. Dr. Vivek Murthy called for technology companies and parents to take "immediate11 action to protect their kids now."

Murthy noted how social media is pushing big changes in the way children think of themselves, form friendships and experience the world.

In October, about 33 states brought legal action against Meta for harming young people's health. The legal action said the company regularly collects information on children under 13 years of age.

And in December, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proposed major changes to laws controlling the way companies can follow and advertise to children. The agency proposed turning off targeted advertisements to children under 13 and limiting notifications to them.

And in 2024...

Artificial intelligence powers chatbots that perform writing tasks and create material for users of services like ChatGPT. In the fall, Meta chief Zuckerberg said his company was "building the future of human connection." He said that people will soon communicate with hologram versions of their friends, coworkers and others. The company demonstrated AI bots using the images of famous people such as Snoop Dogg and Paris Hilton. Meta believes many social media users will want to interact with celebrities12.

Enberg, the social media expert, said AI will be used throughout social media platforms. "Social apps will use AI to drive usage, ad performance and revenues, subscription13 sign ups," and business activity, she said. Experts say social media services learned from Musk's X that subscriptions14 are a good way to make money.

Important elections will take place in the United States, India and other places in 2024. Some experts are worried about AI's abilities to create materials that can contain misinformation and then spread on social media.

A.J. Nash is an official with ZeroFox, an internet security company based in the state of Maryland. Nash said materials spread this way will have a "major" influence on elections.

"We're not prepared for this," he said.

Words in This Story

rival –n. a person or group which is trying to be more successful than another or trying to defeat its opponent

revenues–n. money from business, investment or taxes subscriptions –n. (pl.) agreements for payment in exchange for a regular service

hologram –n. a projected image that looks like it has depth, width and length but is only an image


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 musk v6pzO     
n.麝香, 能发出麝香的各种各样的植物,香猫
参考例句:
  • Musk is used for perfume and stimulant.麝香可以用作香料和兴奋剂。
  • She scented her clothes with musk.她用麝香使衣服充满了香味。
2 workforce workforce     
n.劳动大军,劳动力
参考例句:
  • A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
  • A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。
3 followers 5c342ee9ce1bf07932a1f66af2be7652     
追随者( follower的名词复数 ); 用户; 契据的附面; 从动件
参考例句:
  • the followers of Mahatma Gandhi 圣雄甘地的拥护者
  • The reformer soon gathered a band of followers round him. 改革者很快就获得一群追随者支持他。
4 restrictions 81e12dac658cfd4c590486dd6f7523cf     
约束( restriction的名词复数 ); 管制; 制约因素; 带限制性的条件(或规则)
参考例句:
  • I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
  • a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制
5 trump LU1zK     
n.王牌,法宝;v.打出王牌,吹喇叭
参考例句:
  • He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
  • The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手,作为他的王牌。
6 noted 5n4zXc     
adj.著名的,知名的
参考例句:
  • The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
  • Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。
7 activist gyAzO     
n.活动分子,积极分子
参考例句:
  • He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
  • He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。
8 remains 1kMzTy     
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹
参考例句:
  • He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
  • The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。
9 jack 53Hxp     
n.插座,千斤顶,男人;v.抬起,提醒,扛举;n.(Jake)杰克
参考例句:
  • I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
  • He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。
10 protocol nRQxG     
n.议定书,草约,会谈记录,外交礼节
参考例句:
  • We must observe the correct protocol.我们必须遵守应有的礼仪。
  • The statesmen signed a protocol.那些政治家签了议定书。
11 immediate aapxh     
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的
参考例句:
  • His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
  • We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。
12 celebrities d38f03cca59ea1056c17b4467ee0b769     
n.(尤指娱乐界的)名人( celebrity的名词复数 );名流;名声;名誉
参考例句:
  • He only invited A-list celebrities to his parties. 他只邀请头等名流参加他的聚会。
  • a TV chat show full of B-list celebrities 由众多二流人物参加的电视访谈节目
13 subscription qH8zt     
n.预订,预订费,亲笔签名,调配法,下标(处方)
参考例句:
  • We paid a subscription of 5 pounds yearly.我们按年度缴纳5英镑的订阅费。
  • Subscription selling bloomed splendidly.订阅销售量激增。
14 subscriptions 2d5d14f95af035cbd8437948de61f94c     
n.(报刊等的)订阅费( subscription的名词复数 );捐款;(俱乐部的)会员费;捐助
参考例句:
  • Subscriptions to these magazines can be paid in at the post office. 这些杂志的订阅费可以在邮局缴纳。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Payment of subscriptions should be made to the club secretary. 会费应交给俱乐部秘书。 来自《简明英汉词典》

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