Recently I went to an author’s talk where the author tried to hold simultaneously that Twitter gave users control over their contacts and that Twitter would bring people together to expand democracy and social justice. I think filtering will prevail, and Twitter will become the same old echo-chamber as any other closed community. Though everyone with pretensions to Twitter Empowerment wants lots of followers, they use bots to trade follower-ships rather than actually read what other people have to say. The object is always to self-aggrandize and amplify your own voice; the assumption is always want you have to say is so much more important than everyone else.

Thus everyone will be using bots to block noise out and try to create the illusion that they themselves are a rare signal – worthy of a book contract, consultant fees, and TV appearances as an “expert”.

Let’s not even get started on everyone’s natural tendency to try to spy on each other and use that information to make various decisions and pass various judgments. If private individuals can use bots as their own personal CIA, they will!

I fear the corporate aggregation of information a lot. I fear the universal use of bots a lot more. Filtering will erode democracy and diversity. Personal spying will give a whole new meaning to 1984′s Big Brother: it’s not The Government – it’s everyone around you!