ABSTRACT
The aggregation of the individual voices would allow to benefit from the "wisdom of crowds". The social media platforms have always maintained that they are not publishers and have no responsibility for the activities of people who use their platforms. Algorithms were built to express this "techno/cyberlibertarian ethos, valuing the notion of a rational, autonomous individual and meritocratic idealism". Instead of journalism organisations with the critical mass to fight the good fights, the authors may be left with the equivalent of countless pamphleteers and people shouting from soapboxes. The next generation of Internet entrepreneurs also emerged from the field of science. Where collaboration is encouraged it is on the basis of similarity rather than difference – people gather together online in order to be with people who are like them. This is a useful demonstration of how a trusted source, added to an influential node in the network, can produce very powerful network effects that spread like wildfire.
