"Coherent Mode" for the World's Public Square

TL;DR

This paper explores how Twitter's Birdwatch system can be adapted to create a generalized public opinion mapping platform, leveraging deliberative algorithms to enhance democratic discourse and address misinformation.

Contribution

It proposes a comprehensive five-part system to transform Birdwatch into a tool for mapping public opinion and fostering deliberation at scale.

Findings

Demonstrates potential for Birdwatch to produce public opinion maps

Highlights integration of deliberative algorithms in social media platforms

Suggests a pathway for scalable, constructive political discourse

Abstract

Systems for large scale deliberation have resolved polarized issues and shifted agenda setting into the public's hands. These systems integrate bridging-based ranking algorithms - including group informed consensus implemented in Polis and the continuous matrix factorization approach implemented by Twitter Birdwatch - making it possible to highlight statements which enjoy broad support from a diversity of opinion groups. Polis has been productively employed to foster more constructive political deliberation at nation scale in law making exercises. Twitter Birdwatch is implemented with the intention of addressing misinformation in the global public square. From one perspective, Twitter Birdwatch can be viewed as an anti-misinformation system which has deliberative aspects. But it can also be viewed as a first step towards a generalized deliberative system, using Twitter's misinformation problem as a proving ground. In this paper, we propose that Twitter could adapt Birdwatch to produce maps of public opinion. We describe a system in five parts for generalizing Birdwatch: activation of a deliberative system and topic selection, population sampling and the role of expert networks, deliberation, reporting interpretable results and finally distribution of the results to the public and those in power.