“Good books are stunning charges of vital energy” —Elena Ferrante
The Banality of Online Recommendation Culture
A recent surge of human-curated guidance is both a reaction against and an extension of the tyranny of algorithmic recommendations.
By Kyle Chayka
October 30, 2024
Illustration by Ariel Davis
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In the 2010s, affiliate marketing became a dominant strain of online business models. The... See more
A recent surge of human-curated guidance is both a reaction against and an extension of the tyranny of algorithmic recommendations.
By Kyle Chayka
October 30, 2024
Illustration by Ariel Davis
Save this story
In the 2010s, affiliate marketing became a dominant strain of online business models. The... See more
Kyle Chayka • The Banality of Online Recommendation Culture | the New Yorker
That labor amounts to constant self-promotion in the form of cheap trend-following, ever-changing posting strategies, and the nagging feeling that what you are really doing with your time is marketing, not art. Under the tyranny of algorithmic media distribution, artists, authors — anyone whose work concerns itself with what it means to be human —... See more
Rebecca Jennings • Everybody Has to Self-Promote Now. Nobody Wants To.
I suspect that writers who heavily use AI (or, indeed are AI) will never not be seen, by most people, as low status. Artists tend to shrink from the concept of the ‘brand’, but a writer’s name is their brand, and it will be of enormous value to them in our new age. The authentic human author will be seen almost as a luxury good. People want to be... See more