June 9, 2021

"Even though everyone said they hated it, engagement had doubled."

"It" = the Facebook news feed. 

ADDED: The NYT video makes creative use of a lot of different video and declines to list these things in the credits, but I do think it's wrong not to acknowlege the brilliant Jean Cocteau film "Blood of a Poet" (which is used extensively and is so distinct and striking): 

1 comment:

Ann Althouse said...

Kay writes:

"What the NYT gets wrong is where it says things like, “we were all moving within the same geography” or that “we all shared the same experience” before the feed. There was really no unity like what they’re describing on the internet before the feed. I think in the beginning people were really trying to find their own unique corner online, which is why pre-feed internet was more niche and idiosyncratic.

"The algorithm is personalized but somehow feels much more universal than what was happening online before. All newsfeeds from 2016-2020 carried tons of content about The Donald, regardless of whether you liked him or not or even cared about politics. After the feed, things became a lot more like television news where we all passively drink from the same fountain of events. Sure, people interpret the events differently, which is why people love the two movies/one screen analogy, but before the feed I believe we had many screens and many movies. You went to traditional media to find out what the masses were into, and to the internet to hideaway in your own personalized world. And I think today it feels like that individuality is almost gone and it’s a real shame."