The Creator Economy

Successful platforms do not just discover what consumers want — they produce the consumers and the forms of consumer desire that they need.

Inherent in the concept of moral contagion, then, is the idea that moral-emotion expressions are among the most powerful signals to the self and others about one’s identity. As such, they may be among the most functionally relevant forms of expressions in the context of moral and political discourse online, where moral and political identities are... See more

In the context of political discourse online, moralized content containing moral-emotion expression is consistently associated with increased sharing across various topics, among laypeople and political leaders, and during consequential political events. We call this phenomenon moral contagion .

Ugh, I can’t believe I had to live/work through the deaths of both print media AND online media and now possibly television and film too?? Can I just have a job?! Like, no offense to my beloved Butt News subscribers, but there’s no way that selling direct-to-consumer humorous movie reviews at a freelance tax rate and paying $600/month for my own... See more

A democratic cultural politics would be developmentalist — oriented to learning, growth and discovery — rather than presentist. All kinds of resources made available by digital hyperconnectivity could support such a developmentalist cultural politics. But the algorithms that feed us what we like or register what is popular — and thereby... See more