Lenny's Podcast: Product | Career | Growth - An inside look at X’s Community Notes | Keith Coleman (VP of Product) and Jay Baxter (ML Lead)
Community Notes is a system that enables users to propose and rate notes on social media posts they find misleading. The system seeks agreement from users who typically disagree, ensuring the notes are neutral and accurate. This approach has proven effective in reducing misinformation, as evidenced by studies showing changes in user agreement with post claims when notes are present. The system is open to all users, including those with extreme views, to ensure a comprehensive understanding of what notes are helpful. The project has survived multiple leadership changes at Twitter/X, largely due to its adherence to principles of transparency and user-driven content. The team operates with a small, focused group, emphasizing rapid iteration and user feedback. The success of Community Notes has led to its adoption by Meta as a fact-checking tool, highlighting its impact on combating misinformation online.
Key Points:
- Community Notes allows users to add context to misleading posts, ensuring accuracy through agreement from diverse viewpoints.
- The system is open to all users, including those with extreme views, to ensure comprehensive data on helpful notes.
- Studies show that Community Notes effectively change user agreement with post claims, reducing misinformation spread.
- The project emphasizes transparency and user-driven content, with all data and algorithms open for public audit.
- Community Notes has been adopted by Meta, demonstrating its effectiveness as a fact-checking tool.
Details:
1. 🎯 Introduction to Community Notes
- Community Notes allow users to propose notes on potentially misleading posts, aiming for informative content.
- The accuracy and neutrality of notes are enhanced by seeking agreement from previously disagreeing individuals, leading to well-written notes.
2. 🧐 How Community Notes Works
2.1. Community Participation
2.2. Impact on Public Opinion
3. 👥 Meet the Team Behind Community Notes
- Organizations run by Elon Musk are surprisingly lean, highlighting a strategic emphasis on efficiency and agility within his ventures.
- Small teams achieve significant outcomes, reflecting a focus on maximizing each team member's productivity and impact.
- The lean structure allows for swift decision-making and adaptability, crucial for innovation-driven environments.
- Team members often wear multiple hats, enhancing flexibility and capability across projects.
- This approach has led to notable achievements, such as rapid product development cycles and innovative solutions in complex fields.
4. 🎙️ Podcast Highlights and Impact
- Community Notes is a tool on X/Twitter that addresses misinformation by providing corrective notes under tweets containing false information.
- It originated from an internal algorithm contest within Twitter, showcasing an innovative approach to problem-solving within the company.
- Community Notes has maintained its core principles, contributing to its success and endurance through leadership changes, including under Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey.
- Meta's recent adoption of Community Notes as their primary fact-checking tool underscores its effectiveness in combating misinformation on the internet.
5. 🔔 Call to Action & Exploring SaaS Solutions
5.1. Subscription Incentives
5.2. WorkOS Solutions for SaaS Apps
5.3. Warrant Acquisition and Access Control Solutions
6. 💪 Community Notes: Impact and Origin Story
- Product Board has supported companies like Zoom, Salesforce, and Autodesk for over 10 years in building products faster.
- The platform covers all stages of product development, from customer insights to stakeholder alignment, providing a single source of truth.
- Product Board Pulse offers enhanced visibility into customer needs with built-in intelligence for feedback analysis and trend identification.
- AI capabilities allow deeper analysis by enabling follow-up questions on customer feedback.
7. 📜 Developing Community Notes: Challenges and Strategies
- Community Notes empowers users to add context to misleading posts, fostering informed decision-making.
- Users propose notes on misleading posts, which are rated by others; notes reaching consensus among typically disagreeing users are shown widely, ensuring neutrality and accuracy.
- The algorithm’s focus on cross-opinion agreement enhances impartiality and counters potential manipulation.
- Challenges include ensuring the algorithm effectively distinguishes genuine consensus from manipulation and adapting to evolving misinformation tactics.
- Examples of successful Community Notes have shown significant impact in correcting public misconceptions and enhancing discourse quality.
8. 👨💻 Effective Team Dynamics and Project Management
- The 'bridging based agreement algorithm' is used to validate information collaboratively, without external labels, fostering an inclusive environment for decision-making.
- Community Notes leverages the input of regular individuals, not just professional fact-checkers, promoting a diverse range of perspectives and enhancing team collaboration.
- Participants are required to have a verified phone number, ensuring accountability and reliability in contributions.
- This initiative is designed to be open to all, encouraging fairness and trust within the team by valuing every member's input.
- By challenging traditional curated editorial methods, this approach fosters an open and trustable system, which can be mirrored in team dynamics to improve transparency and trust.
9. 🌟 Lessons Learned and the Future of Community Notes
9.1. Introduction to Community Notes
9.2. Examples and User Involvement
9.3. Scale and Impact
9.4. Notification and User Feedback
9.5. Algorithm and Decision-Making
9.6. Addressing Polarization
9.7. Volunteer Motivation and Impact
9.8. Impact on Engagement
9.9. Author Reactions
9.10. Origin and Development
9.11. Team Structure and Management
9.12. Small Team Dynamics
9.13. Operational Flexibility and Iteration
9.14. Success Factors
9.15. Cultural and Organizational Impact
9.16. Challenges and Resilience
9.17. Lean Operations and Code Management
9.18. Launch Strategy and Adoption
9.19. Principles and Trust
9.20. Validation and Acceptance
9.21. User Behavior and Anonymity
9.22. Strategic Importance and Adaptability
9.23. Future Directions and Optimism
10. 🔗 Final Thoughts and How to Get Involved
- We are hiring an ML engineer. Applications are accepted at x.com slash community notes.
- Contact kcoleman on X for feedback or collaboration opportunities.
- Contact underscore jaybaxter underscore on X for substantial contributions like pull requests or project collaborations.
- Listeners are encouraged to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any podcast app, and to rate or review to help others find the show.
- Past episodes and more information about the podcast can be found at lennyspodcast.com.