The parasocial friends you'll never meet
And while it’s tempting to dismiss it as a shallow trick to boost engagement, I’ve come to view it slightly more charitably. Cultivating the parasocial by attaching one’s face or voice to the content itself is a powerful way to make people care more about something—effective marketing if not a source of underlying quality. As AI normalizes the idea... See more
Drew Austin • The Internet's Meaning Crisis
Every time you find a new favourite blog or Twitter account or Tiktok personality online, you'll have to ask: Is this really a whole human with a rich and complex life like mine? Is there a being on the other end of this web interface I can form a relationship with?
Maggie Appleton • The Expanding Dark Forest and Generative AI
However, even the act of training the algorithm comes with the egotistical assumption that individual videos were meant for you in the first place. By identifying with a piece of content, you implicitly assume that you were part of its intended audience. After all, why wouldn’t you be? It was on your “For You” Page.
Unfortunately, the very notion of... See more
Unfortunately, the very notion of... See more
you're never the intended audience
how much of me is me and how much of me is me mediated back to myself via the internet and via people’s responses to me. This of course is the mimetic groove. But it is something that people who are consumed by others must contend with each day. You have to figure out where the meat of content stops and where the rind of your soul is because otherw
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