When Mark Zuckerburg first created Facebook, I doubt he saw the potential that it would turn into the enormous and powerful social media platform it is today. Same with Jack Dorsey et al and Jawed Karim et al regarding Twitter and YouTube, respectively. Nevertheless, these three platforms have become huge drivers of connecting communities and sharing content with like-minded people. But what happens when these individuals are racist, homophobic, sexist, etc., and want to connect with others who feel the same way? Social Warming: The Dangerous and Polarising Effects of Social Media by Charles Arthur explores, in detail, just how this concept slowly but inevitably became reality.

In Social Warming, Journalist and former Technology Editor Charles Arthur explores how social media, whose founders’ intentions were to connect people and allow them to share ideas, inevitably became hot spots and even match-makers for dangerous groups to come together, which eventually led to devastating and horrible events. Just take a look at the book’s summary: 

Nobody meant for this to happen.

Facebook didn’t mean to facilitate a genocide.

Twitter didn’t want to be used to harass women.

YouTube never planned to radicalise young men.

If you’ve ever watched the Netflix documentary, “The Social Dilemma,” you are likely already aware of the negative effects of social media. However, Arthur’s research is just as sophisticated and cites real-world examples, both in the U.S. and the U.K., of how social media slowly became a breeding ground for radicalized white supremacists, and undoubtedly influenced the 2016 Presidential Election and 2016 Brexit vote. If you’re not convinced, pick up Social Warming for a well-researched point of view. 

Arthur intelligently guides the reader through such examples and identifies why the Founders/CEOs of the aforementioned platforms did not initially begin to regulate user-created content on their sites, and why now they’ve barely adjusted their policies to try to reduce the risk of dangerous groups of people (and powerful individuals) from promoting violence. He uses their own words against them, quoting congressional hearings and interviews over the past five or so years. 

If you haven’t thought about these connections by now, I strongly urge you to consider picking up Social Warming and diving a little deeper into why social media is so effective at bringing people together, and why these companies danced around the topic of flagging or removing violent content from their platforms. I’ll give you a hint – it’s not all about free speech. 

So why did Dorsey resist banning Donald Trump from Twitter for so long, despite violating the company’s policies time and time again? Why didn’t Zuckerburg more closely monitor the amount of political ads and who was paying for them during the election cycle? Arthur explains that if these platforms allowed fewer people to use them, then these companies make less money. And yes, he has the receipts. 

I like to think that I stay up-to-date with current events and trends, but Social Warming undoubtedly added to my familiarity and knowledge of the subject matter. Similar to the concept of global warming – while I’m just one person, I know I contribute to the much bigger picture. While I do my best to reduce my carbon footprint and waste production, I’m not sure if I will eliminate social media from my life anytime soon. Nevertheless, I recommend this fascinating deep-dive into the dangerous impact of social media to anyone who has a social media account. 

Charles Arthur joins our guest list on our Cantina Conversation segment on The Nerd Cantina Show podcast. We talk about how his background enabled him to see it all coming, what we can do to improve our relationships with social media, and where he sees the future of social media headed. Stay tuned for an upcoming episode and pick up Social Warming: The Dangerous and Polarising Effects of Social Media, available now.