Andie—thanks for an excellent, well-researched, and persuasive post. I agree with all your suggestions.
I suspect that there are a few reasons for EA not being savvier or more effective about outreach on the social platforms favored by Gen Z (e.g. YouTube, Instagram, TikTok).
First, I think there may be a view among many EA leaders that ‘serious ideas’ are conveyed through written text (e.g. EA Forum & LessWrong posts; peer-reviewed academic publications, books), or podcast interviews (eg. 80k Hours), or maybe sometimes Twitter. There’s often a disdain (which I admittedly share) for the video-heavy ‘influencer’ culture of YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. But, I think you’re right that these platforms are where the young people are, and we might as well reach them there. This doesn’t require us to adopt the more superficial, eye-candy, status-seeking narcissism of many Instagram influencers. We can use these platforms however we want, and build the audience we want to attract. All of the key ideas in EA could be conveyed effectively through ‘video shorts’ of the kind that are extremely popular on social media at the moment. We just need good ‘spokespeople’ who are comfortable and skilled at communicating through this medium.
Second, I think there’s an assumption among some older EAs (also admittedly including me) that only stupid and superficial people spend huge amounts of time on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok—and that EA doesn’t want to recruit stupid and superficial people. Certainly most of the content on these platforms may seem dumb and vacuous by EA standards. But, as you point out, the vast majority of Gen Z spends a lot of time on these platforms—and that probably includes plenty of the smartest, most open-minded, and most ethically serious young people. My hunch is that the average IQ of Twitter users might be little higher than that of TikTok users—but, there are one billion monthly active users on TikTok, and millions of them are plenty smart enough to be good EA recruits.
We should also think more creatively about social media for global outreach. For example, TikTok is banned in India, since it’s seen as a platform for Chinese influence and propaganda; but Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter are quite popular in India (and many educated people in India are English-fluent). Whereas in China, the most popular social media apps are WeChat, Sina Weibo, Youku, and Douban, and the working language is Mandarin, with very little English-language content.
One additional comment about ageism and social media to recruit mid-career and older adults: just as Millennials in their 30s may feel some disdain for the short-video social media platforms favored by teens and 20-somethings, they may also feel some disdain for the platforms favored by older professionals, such as Facebook (3 billion users) and LinkedIn (1 billion users). I think it’s important to build our EA outreach efforts to people over 40, not just people under 25.
Epistemic status: I’m far more familiar with Twitter (where I have 130k followers) than with other platforms, although I have posted a few videos on my YouTube channel; so, I’m not very familiar with the subcultures on Instagram or TikTok; and my knowledge of social media in other countries (e.g. India, China) is pretty weak.
Andie—thanks for an excellent, well-researched, and persuasive post. I agree with all your suggestions.
I suspect that there are a few reasons for EA not being savvier or more effective about outreach on the social platforms favored by Gen Z (e.g. YouTube, Instagram, TikTok).
First, I think there may be a view among many EA leaders that ‘serious ideas’ are conveyed through written text (e.g. EA Forum & LessWrong posts; peer-reviewed academic publications, books), or podcast interviews (eg. 80k Hours), or maybe sometimes Twitter. There’s often a disdain (which I admittedly share) for the video-heavy ‘influencer’ culture of YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. But, I think you’re right that these platforms are where the young people are, and we might as well reach them there. This doesn’t require us to adopt the more superficial, eye-candy, status-seeking narcissism of many Instagram influencers. We can use these platforms however we want, and build the audience we want to attract. All of the key ideas in EA could be conveyed effectively through ‘video shorts’ of the kind that are extremely popular on social media at the moment. We just need good ‘spokespeople’ who are comfortable and skilled at communicating through this medium.
Second, I think there’s an assumption among some older EAs (also admittedly including me) that only stupid and superficial people spend huge amounts of time on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok—and that EA doesn’t want to recruit stupid and superficial people. Certainly most of the content on these platforms may seem dumb and vacuous by EA standards. But, as you point out, the vast majority of Gen Z spends a lot of time on these platforms—and that probably includes plenty of the smartest, most open-minded, and most ethically serious young people. My hunch is that the average IQ of Twitter users might be little higher than that of TikTok users—but, there are one billion monthly active users on TikTok, and millions of them are plenty smart enough to be good EA recruits.
We should also think more creatively about social media for global outreach. For example, TikTok is banned in India, since it’s seen as a platform for Chinese influence and propaganda; but Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter are quite popular in India (and many educated people in India are English-fluent). Whereas in China, the most popular social media apps are WeChat, Sina Weibo, Youku, and Douban, and the working language is Mandarin, with very little English-language content.
One additional comment about ageism and social media to recruit mid-career and older adults: just as Millennials in their 30s may feel some disdain for the short-video social media platforms favored by teens and 20-somethings, they may also feel some disdain for the platforms favored by older professionals, such as Facebook (3 billion users) and LinkedIn (1 billion users). I think it’s important to build our EA outreach efforts to people over 40, not just people under 25.
Epistemic status: I’m far more familiar with Twitter (where I have 130k followers) than with other platforms, although I have posted a few videos on my YouTube channel; so, I’m not very familiar with the subcultures on Instagram or TikTok; and my knowledge of social media in other countries (e.g. India, China) is pretty weak.