Follow Back Resistance #fbr

If you’re a liberal and you’ve been spending time being politically active on Twitter, you’re probably familiar with “Follow Back Resistance” posts.

Twitter Follow Back Resistance #FBR #FBResist

Get new Twitter Resistance followers here @ FBResist.com It’s easy! Just use the sections below to Register - Follow … freedamerica.com

The basic idea is to allow everyone to build up followers. They promise that if you follow them, then they will follow you *and* will share your request with all of their other followers so they can do the same.

You are then able to build up thousands of followers without actually saying anything of substance.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jamescridland/613445810

At first, I tried to do it myself. Soon I had to unfollow a number of them because my entire timeline was just retweets of #FBR requests.

Then I started asking people what their next step or ultimate goal was. I’m not sure they had thought that far ahead though, because most seemed surprised at the thought. It seemed more like a show of might or solidarity than an actual strategy.

All real measurements are disturbed by noise. This includes electronic noise, but can also include external events that affect the measured phenomenon — wind, vibrations, gravitational attraction of the moon, variations of temperature, variations of humidity, etc., depending on what is measured and of the sensitivity of the device. It is often possible to reduce the noise by controlling the environment. Otherwise, when the characteristics of the noise are known and are different from the signals, it is possible to filter it or to process the signal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal-to-noise_ratio

From my perspective, the effect of the Follow Back Resistance was to increase the noise in the system. My goal was to use Twitter to learn by exposing myself to the views of exceptional people and help others by contributing to important conversations.

For me, the “noise” in the system was the echoes of my own bubble. Much like how light pollution prevents you from seeing the distant stars, everyone repeating the same views prevented me from seeing what we all were missing.

And trust me, everyone is missing something. Knowing everything is impossible.