On June 12th, 2019 Beauty YouTube Jacqueline Hill
published a video titled My Lipsticks.
Sitting in her bedroom, Jacqueline was fresh faced with
her hair down and wearing the signature grey hoodie that all
2010's Youtubers wore when they made an apology video.
Jacqueline was here to address the claims that her new brand,
Jacqueline Cosmetics, had launched with a range of
lipsticks that were contaminated with mold shards of plastic,
and, as per the official name, White Fuzzies, I have never
clicked on a video so fast. Over the following weeks, I
consumed hours of commentary content about Jaclyn Hill's
hairy lipsticks. I read all the thing pieces, I
listened to all the podcasts, and I watched all the Drama
Channel videos about this saga. But as a longtime follower of
the YouTube beauty community, there was something about the
coverage of Jaclyn Hill's hairy lipsticks that I just couldn't
get past. Much of it lacked a deep
understanding of the Jaclyn Hill lore.
There was misinformation being spread about her life, career
and history all over the Internet and missing context
that I felt was required to have an informed opinion on the
situation. So I couldn't help but wonder,
should I be the one commenting on Jaclyn Hill's hairy
lipsticks? A writer by profession, I got to
work and I launched a website calledcentennialbeauty.com that
would report on the news, trends and creators of the YouTube
beauty community. At the time, TikTok was new and
I decided to experiment with putting our articles on the
platform. On January 12th, 2020, I
uploaded a video revealing that Jeffrey Star had split from his
longtime boyfriend Nathan Schwanz.
Within hours, it had over 300,000 views.
Two days later, I uploaded a video explaining that Nikki
Tutorials had come out as transgender over 540,000 views.
Three days after that, Kat Von D was leaving her makeup brand
343,000 views. The proof was in the numbers.
There was a very solid place for pop culture analysis and news on
TikTok. But as the years have gone on
and Centennial Beauty evolved past, covering just the YouTube
beauty community, now it feels like audiences are evolving too.
What was once one of the most powerful niches on TikTok is now
over. Saturated with creators and
overrun by fake news and unverified claims, audiences
feel tired of thinking and even more tired of having to question
who they're getting this information from.
Almost five years after I first consumed every piece of
commentary content that I could about Jaclyn Hill's hairy
lipsticks, I can't help but wonder, is this the beginning of
the end? For commentary content from
Centennial World, I'm Lauren Meisner and This is Infinite
Scroll, a podcast about Internet culture, the creator economy,
and how social media is shaping Gen.
Zed. OK, welcome back to Infinite
Scroll, everyone. I had so much fun writing that
intro. I really felt like we needed a
really light hearted, fun vibe this week after last week's
episode. I so appreciate all of your
support for last week's episode. I know it was a hard one to
listen to. It was a hard one to research.
So I am glad that I am back with something a little bit more
light for you guys and you all have been so sweet about the
announcement of Mini Scroll. So yes, if you guys didn't hear
last week on April 2nd, I am launching a daily podcast Monday
to Thursday. It'll be like 10 to 15 minutes
long and it will be the news from the day before.
And it will be more personality based, more fun, less serious,
less scripted, more chatty, you know, so you guys can get all of
that from me. And then Fridays, of course,
will be Infinite Scroll, so you'll get the best of both
worlds. So as always, Please remember to
rate, review and subscribe. It means so much and it helps my
channel grow. It helps my podcast grow.
It is so meaningful. Please sign up to our
newsletter, also called Infinite Scroll.
On Wednesdays we send out a commentary article about a
trend, creator, drama or news. And on Friday we round up the
five biggest thing pieces on the Internet that week and join our
Geneva group, which is also called Infinite Scroll, where
you can chat with other people who are obsessed with Internet
culture, creator, drama and tea. And you can talk with me.
I am recording this episode quite early, so if you guys left
me a review this week and I don't read it, I will read it
next week because I probably just haven't gotten it yet, but
I will read some comments from YouTube on last week's episode.
Fizz Bish said amazing episode, really informative and you
really highlighted the need for additional protection for having
kiddos. Impeccable timing with Quiet on
Set having just been released, which I totally hope you cover.
Looking forward to mini scroll. Much love the girlies are
killing it. Thank you, love it.
And then yeah, everybody else is just like daily podcast exciting
big boy, Becky says. Wow, mini scroll sounds very
ideal for someone who loves Daily News but has a short
attention span. Best of luck.
I'm very excited for it. So sweet.
Yeah, Quiet on Set came out. That is the docu series,
documentary docu series about Dan Schneider and Nickelodeon
and basically what happened to child stars.
The problem is that it's not released in Australia yet, so I
haven't been able to watch it. So once I do, there is
definitely a possibility that I will cover it.
But yeah, Wild timing honestly didn't line that up, but the
conversation is just exploding right now about it in general.
But yes, once we get it in Australia, I will watch it and I
possibly will cover it. For those unfamiliar with
commentary videos, this type of content deep dives into a
specific topic. Kind of like this podcast, this
content provides analysis, critique, or opinion on a
particular situation or issue. A creator might use other
content as a jumping off point, or they might simply cover a
topic that they are interested in.
Commentary creators operate across different social media
platforms, but they are most popular on TikTok, and YouTube.
On YouTube, commentary content is typically presented in a
video essay style. You will see a creator sitting
in front of the camera rattling off information about the topic.
They are usually well researched and well edited, with graphics
and text popping up on screen as they speak.
On TikTok, where videos are significantly shorter, creators
will emulate the structure of a video essay, often using the
green screen effect while explaining different topics.
Terry Nguyen explains TikTok commentary for Vox Writing Quote
They are a fraction of the length of YouTube video essays,
but constructed with a similar critical and intellectual bent.
These ideas are not always groundbreaking or original, but
the quippy and digestible presentation style is uniquely
suitable for an audience with a limited attention span.
These commentary videos are a far cry from the type of videos
that TikTok became known for, like dance and lip sync.
Content Quote analysis creators are a marked departure from the
earliest days of the app, when content was short, simple, and
straightforward, Nguyen continues.
Although this type of content isn't native to TikTok,
commentary isn't a new genre for social media, and there are a
couple of categories that have paved the way for this type of
content to flourish. First and foremost, there have
long been people who analyze different types of content that
we consume. Before we talked about Internet
culture, it was mainstream pop culture, specifically TV and
movies. Pop culture analysis through
video format really started with TV and film reviews on different
websites and on YouTube. The YouTube channel Watch Mojo
is one of the earliest examples of this.
In 2007, they uploaded a video reviewing the Rent musical DVD.
16 years later, they have over 25,000,000 subscribers and
exclusively post pop culture analysis in videolistical
format. But as the years have gone on
and mainstream culture blends with Internet culture, the move
towards Internet culture as the main topic of commentary
analysis videos seems like a natural fit.
Second, the rise of true crime content has made way for more
analytical content online. Over the past few years, the
true crime niche has gone completely viral.
From podcasts to YouTube videos, creators are embracing their
inner armchair detective and breaking down some of the
world's most complicated cases. Often, these creators will also
share their own opinion on what happened, veering into
conspiracy territory. While the true crime genre
definitely has its problems, for example, fictionalizing these
cases can compromise ongoing investigations and hurt the
victims families. This type of content has LED
viewers to expect analysis when exploring topics, and when you
look at them side by side. True crime and commentary
analysis have very similar formats.
In both genres, creators typically speak directly to the
audience, draw conclusions, and analyze the situation, often
from multiple perspectives. They both also have a narrative
elements. True crime content tends to
communicate every detail and event to the viewer
chronologically and predictably, building a sense of familiarity
and consistency. Commentary creators do a similar
thing, opening up with a specific concept or theme before
dissecting the whole topic in detail.
Third drama channels have also helped commentary creators and
content go increasingly mainstream.
We have discussed the origins of drama channels at length on this
podcast. For an in depth analysis of how
drama channels operate and their role in the creator sphere,
check out our episode with Spill Sash from last season.
But for those unfamiliar with drama channels, they are
dedicated to covering drama and news in various communities
online. When they first arrived on the
scene, they had a specific focus on the beauty community.
The rise of drama channels helped shift the focus away from
mainstream topics to increasingly niche conversations
with a specific focus on Internet culture.
As viewers became increasingly invested in their favorite
creators and the ongoing drama, many started seeking context and
analysis on the situations rather than just a recount.
This helped pave the way for longer form analytical content
in the form of a video essay from a personal perspective.
Background 2017 to 2019, I was obsessed with drama channels.
I would choose to watch drama channels quite literally over
anything else, including TV, because I just loved the topics
that they covered. It was like a fresh perspective
on what I was interested in, but nobody else was covering them.
At the time I was completely new to analytical content and I
became so into it that as I mentioned in the intro, I quite
literally launched Centennial because of my interest and
obsession with drama channels. Now we know that analysis
content has been popular on YouTube for years, but recently
it feels like the genre has absolutely taken over TikTok.
Commentary creators on TikTok have become increasingly popular
thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is partly the result of
lockdown. We had more time than ever to
consume long form videos, but also with everything slowing
down, many of us had more quote UN quote brainpower to consume
analytical content. Video essayist and commentary
creators started to fill this gap.
As Trish Rooney writes for Inside Hook quote.
When the pandemic began in March 2020, the demand for content to
consume skyrocketed. Streaming services saw an uptick
in usage. Subscriptions on streaming
platforms passed a billion in 2020.
It makes sense that the same would be asked of content
creators during this period. We also saw the lines blur
between entertainment and information like never before.
Young people were turning to TikTok for updates on COVID-19.
Though TikTok is an entertainment platform, it
became the go to place for Crowdsource information on how
to stay safe. The crossover between
entertainment and information intensified during the Black
Lives Matter protests in the United States, where TikTok
became a hub for this sort of activism.
Back in 2020, the For You page was flooded with all kinds of
different posts, some focusing on how to be good allies and
others sharing information on how to get involved in the
ongoing protests. As Zoe Williams writes for the
Guardian quote, for the first two days of the BLM riots, the
Twelves and Unders had much more precise understanding of the
whole thing. Not just the details of George
Floyd's death, but the searing rage around it and the likely
scale of the protests. Many mainstream publications
were covering this shift. Some headlines from this time
included Quote TikTok pivots from Dance moves to racial
justice movement from NPR quote the TikTok generation of my kids
is not only better informed but more politicized from the
Guardian and quote TikTok serves as a hub for hashtag Black Lives
Matter activism from CNN. As political content became more
popular on TikTok, expectations from audiences shifted.
Users began seeking in depth analysis and contextual
understanding for conversations on the platform, broadening the
scope of entertainment and pop culture discourse.
As Nguyen continues quote, social norms have also shifted.
Compulsive self entitled posting sprees are now more widely
frowned upon. Even as a coping mechanism to
global disaster and tragedy. Audiences seem to expect a value
add to what they consume, content that doesn't singularly
revolve around the creator, but engages with and elucidates the
world writ large. And though it was first known as
a music and dance app, TikTok as a platform has many built in
features that really complement the commentary genre, like
Stitch Duet and replying to comments via video.
So TikTok really democratized this genre.
Before, with YouTube for example, there were many more
barriers to entry. The level of research and
analysis has to be much more significant to fill a YouTube
video than to fill a 62nd TikTok, for example.
And the quality of content on YouTube from a production
standpoint is less user friendly.
With TikTok, someone can pick up their phone, film a 30 second
opinion on something, and that is considered commentary or
analysis. Now, just because someone
creates commentary content doesn't mean it's good
commentary content. In my opinion, what makes good
commentary content is that it delivers accurate information
with an original opinion or perspective.
There also needs to be an element of entertainment to the
content. However, this entertainment
factor seems to be where many creators end up veering into
dangerous territory trying to make their content too
sensational in an attempt to go viral, and this can sometimes
lead to the spread of misinformation and conspiracy
theories. So what is it about Internet
culture commentary that makes it so interesting to us?
Well, perhaps the most obvious reason is that Internet
commentary is very meta. Creators make content analyzing
the environment in which they operate, while the viewers watch
from that same space. As a result, most users will
have enough context to engage with their videos, at least on a
surface level. And the content that these
creators make legitimizes interests and conversations that
are usually considered frivolous or guilty pleasures.
Pop culture, which is often relegated to the world of girl
Internet, is frequently belittled.
Discussions about cultural topics, both mainstream and
Internet culture, are often trivialized and seen as catering
exclusively to teenage girls. As Catherine McLaughlin points
out in Study Breaks magazine Quote, Once teenage girls find
something they love, you can predict that it will be just as
quickly dismissed in the eyes of most everyone else.
This is extremely ironic because stereotypically women focused
interests are very lucrative and they are exploited by many
industries. Many companies capitalize on the
celebrity and Stan culture to make money, operating under the
assumption that by catering to teenage girls, they can, quote
hook them as they grow into independent adults with even
greater spending power. As Samantha Grindle writes for
Insider, Overall, it isn't surprising that Gen.
Z users enjoy Internet commentary creators.
They intellectualize and validate cultural conversations
that are often overlooked. As Nguyen writes, quote These
topics have long been disregarded as frivolous and
feminized, and assumed to have less direct bearing on people's
lives than, say, politics or personal finance.
To that end, the application of academic language and highbrow
concepts helps elevate the pop culture discourse, imbuing it
with similarly greater significance.
If you listen to this podcast, I probably don't need to convince
you. But these topics are important.
They can tell us a lot about our society at this moment in time,
making them an important tool for analyzing and reflecting on
the events happening around us. In a similar vein, people just
love to know and discuss the tea.
This is exactly what commentary content does, while often
elevating stories by providing comprehensive analysis and
context. Nuyen notes quote analysis
videos satisfy an itch on an intellectual and potentially
neurological level. Humans brains, some more so than
others, have a tendency to derive meaning or see
connections and patterns. In events where there may be
none, many critics of Internet culture commentators claim that
their content is simply gossip. While this is an attempt to
trivialize this genre of content, gossip can be an
important part of cultural learning and social development.
A number of studies have explored what exactly
constitutes gossiping and the role it plays in our lives.
One important point of research is that gossip doesn't have to
be negative or positive. Quote, UN quote neutral gossip
as it can be referred to, is helpful in learning about what
is going on around us. Quote gossip is a way of
understanding the cartography of the community you're in.
It's a means of understanding the structure of that community,
and we're all part of multiple communities.
Some people call gossip the chewing gum of the mind, Gary A.
Fine, a sociologist at Northwestern University, tells
The Daily Beast. The journalist also notes that
gossiping can be used as a part of a whisper network to Quote
help people protect each other against those in power who are
prone to abuse. This type of gossip aligns with
the objectives of cancel culture.
Cancel culture aims to hold offenders accountable by
stripping them of their status and power, and information
sharing networks play a crucial role in achieving this goal.
Therefore, gossip and commentary serve as important steps toward
this objective. Lastly, people enjoy consuming
commentary content because it feeds their ego quote.
The ideological crux of such content is logic, or the guise
of it at least, and evidence based observation rather than
unfiltered hot takes. Depending on the topic at hand,
Creators also don't have to divulge much detail about their
personal lives or moral beliefs. It instead becomes an Ave. to
demonstrate one's intellectual authenticity or observational
authority. It is an unofficial pipeline to
thought influencing, Nuyen continues for Vox.
This thought influencing extends beyond the creators, however, as
audiences are highly engaged in this type of content.
People love to share their own opinions and comment sections,
challenging the creator or bandwagoning on their ideas to
also feel like they have contributed something meaningful
to the conversation. Because of that, commentary
content allows us to center ourselves in someone else's
content, which is pretty unique to the genre.
It makes us as the audience feel smart, valued, and validated.
However, if people are engaging with commentary creators to feed
their own egos rather than to genuinely learn, this mindset
can leave users reluctant to listen and to consider
alternative perspectives. And this reluctance, I predict,
will be the downfall of this genre.
Now, before I explore this further, I do want to note that
commentary and analysis content really is the backbone of
journalism and the media industry as a whole.
Publications have been writing this type of content for years,
whether in print or digital, but this episode in particular
specifically refers. To social media creators, not to
media and journalists. Over the past six months or so,
it seems like audiences have a bit of commentary fatigue.
My first indication of this shift was the Barbie movie,
where people seemed really against hearing any deeper
analysis of the film and any criticism was brushed off as if
the person criticizing the film, it just didn't understand the
movie. We talked about this a little
bit in the Taylor Swift episode from a few weeks ago, but I
myself absolutely contributed to this with the Barbie movie.
COVID played a big role in this wild dichotomy that we now see
in culture, where it gave us this appetite for deeper
conversation and knowledge while also making us incredibly
skeptical of authority figures. We became obsessed with over
analyzing everything we read, watched and saw.
We therapized and labeled all of our reactions and started using
therapy speak in regular life to describe how and why we do
things. It really pushed us to find a
reason for everything because we needed to make sense of the
reality that we were living in. So commentary creators were
obviously going to thrive in that environment.
But the flip side is that now we're exhausted.
The answers we were seeking were not answered, and we felt gas
lit and lied to by the authority figures who were supposed to
protect us, whether that be the media, government officials or
doctors and experts. And both sides of the political
spectrum feel this. Those on the far right feel like
COVID was this conspiracy and authority figures were lying to
us about the virus, where the left feel like authority
downplayed the severity of the virus and its impact on human
health. And if you Chuck in the rise of
AI, where the long standing belief that seeing is believing
no longer holds up, these past few years have been the perfect
breeding ground for anti intellectualism.
A paper by Studio ATIO defines anti intellectualism as quote, a
social attitude that systematically undermines
science, based facts, academic and institutional authorities,
and the pursuit of theory and knowledge.
It is not so much a school of thought as it is a set of
related strategies to uphold certain systems put in place by
those in power. Anti intellectualism
differentiates between intelligence and intellect,
favoring the former because it is more about using ideas in a
practical way, whereas intellect is more about gathering
knowledge and challenging existing systems.
Quote Because the continued pursuit of intellectual
knowledge necessitates a certain discontent with dogmas, it often
conflicts with and challenges widely accepted philosophies,
societal structure, and the power dynamics of its time.
As a result, anti intellectualism is evoked as a
way to halt the acquisition of new knowledge that would
undermine groups with power and privilege, and does so by
painting these new ideas as a relevant to daily life or simply
false. The rise in anti intellectualism
has contributed to immediate literacy problem among all
generations. A2020 analysis by Pew Research
Center found that US adults who get their political news
primarily from social media were a less knowledgeable about a
wide range of political topics and B more likely to hear about
a number of false or unproven claims when it comes to teens
scrolling social media, Peter Adams for the News Literacy
Project told Mashable. Quote, teens are really
vulnerable to a kind of anti institutionalism and a kind of
nihilism when it comes to the sources of information.
A lot of them embrace this idea that all sources of information
are out to manipulate them in some way, that all sources of
information have secret motives. They have these opinions about
mainstream organizations in ways that make them really vulnerable
to manipulation by bad actors and conspiracy theorists.
Journalists Chase D Benedetto and Elena Cavender suggests that
a huge issue with media literacy today stems from the lack of
primary source linking. On TikTok Quote.
On Twitter, which has live links, a more usable search
function, and both misinformation, pre bunks and
timeline flags for misleading content, users can usually find
the root source of a viral conversation.
TikTok on the other hand is more like a dark tunnel where you
rely solely on your For You page to bring light to whatever is
going on. They also specifically point to
TikTok commentary creators as a factor in the decline of media
literacy. Quote creators whose brand
involves discussing news or popular culture and there are a
lot of them. Opt to screenshot headlines,
summarize articles and offer their takes.
But it's impossible to know whether the creator even read
the article or if they're just offering a summary of the online
discourse. Even worse are the accounts that
spread false headlines, whether they know it or not.
Without live links, all these possible situations are
presented to you in the exact same way, with a familiar face
on your for you page speaking authoritatively.
So despite the fact that there is this very prevalent disdain
for media and journalism right now, people still seem to want
someone who feels like an authority figure delivering them
the news and analysis. But I would argue that now, in
2024, people are starting to question who that authority is.
And when it comes to commentary content posted by random
creators online, including myself, we have reason to be
skeptical. As noted before, commentary
content has gained increased popularity in recent years, and
many TikTok users have jumped on that bandwagon.
As a result, the quality of commentary content on the app
has arguably worsened. Part of this is because of the
changing nature of virality. With the digital sphere more
saturated than ever, commentary creators are having to
capitalize on what they know will go consistently viral
criticism and hateful content. As for why negative content goes
viral, a big part of it is because us as audiences enjoy
feeling a sense of superiority. Quote hate, love and enjoyment
are strong emotional responses. And sometimes when we find
ourselves experiencing strong emotional responses even in the
absence of an actual threat, neurotransmitters like
serotonin, dopamine and oxytocin, for example, are being
secreted by our brain, Jr. Iligan, A clinical psychologist,
explain. This device now using hate for
views is a not a new phenomenon by any means.
This is largely how tabloids have operated for years and it
has since seeped into the digital space, especially on
TikTok which has many problems moderating hateful discourse.
Consuming content that is negative also feeds anti
intellectualism, which is another reason why we like it.
This content allows us to generalize complicated
situations or subjects with catch all beliefs which make
them easier for us to understand or digest And commentary
creators use a couple of techniques, whether intentional
or not, to capitalize on our penchant for criticism.
At this moment, you will see many commentary creators talk
about the successes or failures of certain influencers.
While this may be a way to offer constructive criticism, other
times it feels more like a strategy to go viral.
The creator behind Be Better Company is a recent example of
this. After posting content related to
his family's honey making business that wasn't getting a
lot of views, he started a series where he discusses the
downfall of different celebrities.
His videos now go absolutely viral, even if he is not really
saying anything new or groundbreaking about the
celebrity. This seems to be because people
are excited to hear bad news about someone they deem more
successful than them. It makes us feel better about
ourselves to hear that the Demilios, for example, are
allegedly flopping. It also confirms our negative
bias about influencers that they have no real talent and don't
deserve their fame. Other creators will even be
critical of their audiences. In a recent article by Fast
Company, Steffi KO noted how some creators criticize their
viewers for virality, A technique she labels as nagging.
She mentions a video by YouTube, Stephanie Lang, with the title
Congrats, You've Ruined Your Face.
In the video, Stephanie explores the popularity of plastic
surgery among celebrities. Asking When does plastic surgery
start becoming self mutilation? While Stephanie's video touches
on an important topic, KO says the title encourages clicks by
taking a dig at the viewers quote.
The frames of these videos are simple yet effective, targeting
viewers in our most insecurities, urging them to
click. The video titles alone confront
viewers with the notion that they are lazy or insecure or
hung up on a guy who doesn't care about them.
Given the amount of content flooding the YouTube recommended
page, KO admits that punchy titles are 1 surefire way to get
engagement, but this approach can easily come across as mean
and sinister. Despite this, the content
ultimately relies on a reverse bait and switch strategy, hoping
to leave the viewers feeling better than they did at the
video's outset. Now this example is interesting
because Stephanie Lang started as a beauty YouTube.
She was in that class of OG Aussie Youtubers with Chloe
Morello and Lauren Curtis. But as beauty content stopped
getting views, she pivoted to commentary and her channel is
growing again. And this really drives home the
point. Commentary has been this trendy
type of content for a few years now.
With that, the genre has become over saturated and increasingly
negative because clickbait, negativity and sensational
perspectives will cut through that saturation.
And this has led to the decline in the quality of content that
we now get from this genre, where much of it now appeals to
anti intellectuals who seek to confirm their biases rather than
open their minds. To be clear, I am not
specifically speaking about Stephanie's content here, I
actually watch almost all of her videos and I appreciate what she
is now trying to do with her channel.
Another interesting way to look at the possible downfall of
commentary creators is through the lens of the death of the
monoculture. Pop culture used to be a
monoculture. It was dictated by top 50
charts, award shows, TV guides, and magazines.
In other words, everyone was experiencing a similar cultural
zeitgeist, Kyle Chaca writes for Vox Quote.
Today, the word monoculture is used to describe a monolithic
culture, the range of artifacts, characters, voices, and stories
that a specific demographic Americans, for example, find
recognizable and relatable. The early days of the Internet
pre algorithm were similar. Everyone online in the early 20
tens would be familiar with specific viral moments like
Friday by Rebecca Black, Grumpy Cat.
The white and gold are blue and black dress.
While there are still some viral moments and universal reference
points like the Barbie movie, it is becoming increasingly
difficult to find someone who is on the exact same side of the
Internet as you. That's because culture has
become personalized. Today, algorithms dictate our
feeds and are curated specifically to our interests.
Quote digital platforms have made entertainment and culture
very personalized, driven by algorithms that know you better
than you know yourself. Spotify makes playlists curated
to not only your specific tastes, but cater down to your
listening preferences on the time of day and day of week.
Social media has become entertainment where you can
watch the daily insurance and outs of a girl on the other side
of the world like a tiny reality show that only you and 4000
others know about, writes Crystal Andrews for Z Feed.
As a result of this, creators and businesses have had to learn
how to manufacture virality. One example of this is the
Athenos Feta saga of last year. Rachel Carton, a social media
consultant and author of the Lincoln Bio Newsletter, claimed
that Athenos Feta commissioned influencers to make the quote UN
quote viral Hashtag roasted feta soup seem like a thing, even
though it very clearly wasn't. When Carton reported on the
hashtag roasted feta soup, it only had 19 posts on Instagram
and 14 posts on TikTok, with some of these posts from
influencers who had partnered with Athenos Feta.
The roasted feta soup saga is just one example of how virality
has shifted in the past decade. As Taylor Lorenz writes for the
Washington Post Quote, the Internet has fractured into
uncounted, disparate algorithms, platforms, and niche
communities. The volume of content being
churned out every day has skyrocketed, the life cycle of
each piece of media has grown shorter, and social media
platforms continue to inflate public metrics, devaluing
previously impressive online stats.
So as it becomes increasingly challenging to distinguish
authentic virality from manufactured virality,
commentary creators face difficulties in deciding what to
cover. And as monoculture continues to
decline, engaging in critical discussion about online trends
becomes more challenging Because individuals are entrenched
within their own digital bubbles, commentary creators
are, of course also influenced by the algorithm, making it
increasingly difficult to grasp the complete picture of a
situation online. However, being so siloed also
opens the door to the spread of disinformation, misinformation,
and conspiracy theories in the pursuit of virality.
It's easier for a TikTok, or YouTube creator to state an
opinion as fact, for example, if most of their audience is not on
that side of the Internet to check them.
That being said, it is worth noting that the death of
monoculture may foster deeper conversations with these
specific niches, just as a personal anecdote.
Some of our most niche coverage, like our Gwen Guiz episode for
example, has been our most successful because no one else
out there is covering it. Nonetheless, the death of the
monoculture complicates reaching new audiences and ensuring
diversity and viewership and opinion.
What all of this really leads back to is that commentary
creators are often not authorities on the topics they
cover, and even if they are, it's almost impossible for us to
verify that while scrolling the For You page.
Well, expertise isn't always necessary to have strong
opinions on a topic. Audiences are more skeptical
than ever of what we see online. The decline in media literacy
and the rise in anti intellectualism are contributing
to a volatile environment for anyone in this commentary and
analysis space, even those of us who are qualified.
Commentary content might not be dead, but it's clear that over
the years it's become increasingly sensationalized and
its creators are becoming increasingly less credible.
We don't need to delete TikTok, but the answer to this issue
lands with us. The audience use the algorithm
for good, says Peter Adams. Teach the algorithm that you're
interested in credible information and have it sort of
prioritize that for you. It's not a replacement for
deliberate consumption of news and a deliberate sort of media
diet, but it helps. Infinite Scroll is a podcast
written, produced and presented by me, Lauren Meisner for
Centennial World. Additional research and
reporting is by Annabelle and David.
Thank you guys so much for listening.
I love you guys so much and I will talk to you next week.
Bye.