Distraction Attraction: The Twitter Bot Tactic

May 13, 2022

I have noted in this Web log some corporate actions which I think are like magician tricks. Distract the audience and pull a card from a sleeve. Wow! Magic. The distraction attraction tactic works on a larger scale than a kids’ birthday party with a rent-a-clown and a down-at-the-heels Houdini. Google said it was the holder of the coveted crown of quantum supremacy. At the same time, the lovable Google was busy finding ways to make life interesting for insiders who disagreed with the Google’s version of its technical achievements. The Windows 11 announcement, which showed the Windows Weekly crew that their access to insiders was going the way of Vista; that is, nowhere fast. I still think that the SolarWinds’ misstep motivated this distraction attraction. Who needs Windows 11? It seems fewer than 10 percent of the Windows 10 users, but who knows it this number is real or fake?

This morning (Friday the 13th as luck has it) is was greeted with headlines saying that the wizard of electric cars which have a parts supply chain problem may not buy Twitter. A representative story is from the UK Daily Star (an estimable publication): “Elon Musk Says £36 Billion Twitter Deal Is ‘On Hold’ Following Spam Bot Revelation.” Imagine a story about a service popular in the US in San Francisco/Silicon Valley and Manhattan/Brooklyn with other users dotted in hippity dippity locations like Austin and Nashville appearing in London underground riders’ hands.

That’s publicity, and visibility is the life force of distraction attraction.

I am fighting my keen interest in identifying the issues associated with this deal. Okay, I will mention one: How’s the value of Tesla stock holding up?

Is there a connection between the on hold and actually buying what may be the ultimate nest for legal eagles?

Yep, surfing the TikTok-type concentration with a T shirt that says, “News cycle? Yes!” is one of the joys of distraction attraction. What’s important? The current financial turmoil? The coming dust up with Finland if some Russian duma members have their way? Covid’s chugging along? The black hole at the center of the galaxy which has an immediate and direct contribution to my understanding of astrophysicists’ Kodak moments?

Attraction distraction: A tactic which creates a reality housing other substantive issues requiring a bit of thought, not a tweet.

Stephen E Arnold, May 13, 2022

Written by Stephen E. Arnold · Filed Under Business strategy, Marketing, News

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Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.