Facebook provided the context in which this “ridiculous” narrative was cultured and incubated; it also provided the environment where it was able to flourish. The countless followup stories from this weekend, advancing but mostly rehashing the narrative created by Animal and perfected by The A.V. Club, are even more a product of their environment. A viral, newsy story on Facebook creates both a genuine cultural sensation, because Facebook is huge, and a short-term traffic bonanza for anyone who happens to be nearby. The latter effect, however, might be incidental: Facebook is interested in stories that make people use Facebook more. That these stories produce external traffic is at best a fringe benefit and at worst an inefficiency.
This Awl piece is really good and hits on some of the uncomfortable cognitive dissonance I’ve had since, as John Herrman put it, I “created” this narrative that is now international news, or international clickbait, or both, last week. I am honestly not sure how to feel about the whole thing. Reuters interviewed me this morning and I published a follow up to the original post that I think touches on some of the parts of this that really do matter.
In related news this is edging into a realm of meta-ness that I’m not sure I can handle.
(via likeapairofbottlerockets)