#HBC | Acrostic
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- Joined
- Jan 31, 2010
- Messages
- 2,452
Cannibalism in the most literal sense is the action of a human eating another human. This post isn't about gore in the literal sense, but rather the metaphorical. YouTube started off as being a platform where users could post videos on any topic on any matter. It had a similar sort of appeal to the start of bulletin boards being released in the early 2000s with videos having an appeal analogous to the types of humorous videos you would see on America's Funniest Videos. At its infancy, there was no base formatting that appears in current YouTube video formats e.g. a central narrator, intro/outro music, pre-bought designed slides/graphics, and title cards to link to other videos. Much of what YouTube now is highly formulaic, I believe this was inevitable with Google purchasing the website in 2006 and accelerated with the increased throughput of online web services enabling streaming services to become less of a novelty and more of a basic convention. Another accelerator came with the introduction of the first iPhone in 2007 resulting in video viewing having a mobile platform base rather than being solely restricted to just a desktop environment resulting in more concurrent viewers who were being supplied by a service that was acquiring more servers to meet the consumer demand.
It's important to discuss Google's place in YouTube as Google is an incredibly data driven company. In another post, I discussed how intersectionality & analytics has greatly changed the landscape of the internet over the past decade. Combining Google's analytical models with compensation from Google adsense, there's always going to be an attempt for people looking for financial compensation to try to figure out the analytics Google is using to determine trends, recommendations, and advertisements. A notable trend among prominent content creators on the platform is to release videos on a weekly or a biweekly basis. Such a frequent upload schedule is a gesture for such users to stay relevant not just to their user base, but to the algorithm so it continues to push the user in recommended feeds to people who may be watching similarly themed videos. However, being able to push out such content in 2019 is a commitment. It's a commitment in so much as the expectations for quality and throughput are much higher than they were five or even ten years ago. Anyone who works in a high performance job understands that the hardest expectation to meet from a consumer base is not just quality, but consistency.
I have noticed a rather disturbing trend in the growth of popularity in both commentary and commentator channels. These channels are primarily concerned with "reviewing" the content on someone else's channel that has garnered attention. However, this "review" usually boils down to a criticism of common consensus that is leveraged against material that is would agreed by most to be outlandish. Most recently, commentary in fashion channels usually dedicated to hair, skin, nails, & beauty products have gravitated towards drama regarding James Charles & Tati while gaming channels when not reviewing the awful state of Triple-A games have been discussing the polyamarous relationship between ProJared, his wife, his friend, and all his fans on the internet. This is not going to actually touch upon either of these cases, because this isn't about these granular instances of drama. As these instances are simply a means to an end for users to not actually have to invest in creating content about the initial material. I think that fashion and video games suffer from a common problem as they are empty, consumer products that are continuing in a downward trend to become more vacuous with less & less passion being poured into them.
Fashion as a field in and of itself is one of the most subjective and least substantial fields with trends being copied, knocked off, and in vogue from one day to the next. Recent designs are so ridiculous that naked models are "wearing" another naked model draped across them like a piece of clothing while they walk down a runway. Kanye's clothing brand literally looks like clothes for homeless people. And it's always been the case that higher price point jeans for some indescribable reason has to have holes in them compared to buying whole jeans at a much lower price point. Furthermore a Louis Vuitton cotton canvas bag is covered with... polyvinyl chloride (PVC) which is the same material as shrink wrap.
Videogames on the other hand have not aged well with the triple A industry using the live service model to release some terrible games that are arguably still in a beta like state like Fall Out 76 and Anthem. Literally gaming channels seem just as dedicated towards trashing new games as they are about going into nostalgia mode about playing the Legend of Zelda on the NES. It seems like there is little to no passion for the specialty they are in with many channels seemingly more interested in discussing the downfall of Game Stop with its recent changes in administrative leadership rather than covering any indie games that have come out of the pipeline within the past 5 years.
These are aspects where if one doesn't diversify, then there isn't a lot of variation from one channel to another. However, YouTube's algorithm is still looking for weekly/biweekly submissions to meet its criteria that a creator is still relevant. When there's no other material to release or when the slow burn of burnout is working its way into the creative processes, it becomes tempting to highlight other people's epic failures as content material when it feels like you are working so hard to stay afloat. I think a catch-22 with content creators is that YouTube is not favorable to pivoting. Pivoting in business is the act of going into another product line or business when the initial sales of a product isn't meeting the intended market. The issue with dedicated content material is that it's easy to form growth around a target demographic to gain initial steam, however it's difficult to transition out when there is too much at stake e.g. financial livelihood which results in diminishing returns for continuing to go down such a path. I would actually identify this mindset as being analogous to a sunk cost fallacy, if personal growth suffers and content is related to personal growth then that individual is losing out in terms of human capital and long term growth by depersonalizing themselves.
Criticism on other videos has become common with other YouTubers highlighting the lack of effects, audio quality, visual presentation, and other factors that are on another person's video. I believe that a large part of this criticism culture stems from creator burnout. It's very hard to be a performer, game the algorithm, and also to have a fan base that can come one day and leave the next if their base expectations aren't met. What fails to be understood is that by virtue signaling disgust, it makes the bar for performance even higher for creators to actually meet. And in truth, although presentation quality is important it is not the main point. The main point is to have content or a message to share with other individuals. However, what I see trending on YouTube's trending are people who are very good at guessing and gaming the algorithm's metrics which are honestly... superficial. Perhaps I'm a little touched in the head, but when YouTubers refer to themselves as independent content creators, the key words are not "content" "creator" or "content creator." The key word is being independent, having a unique and individual outlook that isn't tied to trying to game a system or an algorithm by covering trash content. There are enough official outlets for trash material like that such as TMZ which fulfills its purpose to people who get off on that sort of content. Videos with great production quality are wonderful, but what I'm observing from many of these videos is that they have a hired production team, bought designer slide assets, and merchandise of services. When people are committed to imitating a business, you may present the material as an individual but you become essentially nothing more than a mouthpiece for collective interest.
The biggest issue for me is for young consumers who are introduced into this existing medium with videos that are basically at production quality with high views, high likes, high trends, and highly appeals to the masses. There are so many ecosystems that mimic this statistical analytical game where people are socially trained to treat these platforms as actual platformers. It's insane. Normally such a mindset to treat social interaction as a means to an end was considered to be something analogous to sociopathy/psychopathy as these individuals were divorced from any interest of establishing a genuine connection. When twitter, instagram, and YouTube are played for a formula because they run an actual formula, what is getting lost is the actual process of socializing as an independent thought process. And the reason why cannibalization of socialization is occurring is because its far more easy to sell advertisements and products to people who have been conditioned by pattern learning than to attempt to sell to someone who is independent and will buy whatever the **** they want to buy.
Writer's Post-note: Sorry, I made a mistake. Products that feature on beauty YouTube channels are not about fashion and more about cosmetics e.g. makeup and skin supplements. I actually think that makeup application can be considered technical enough to merit consideration for being a substantial topic of interest. The difference between well applied and poorly applied makeup is noticeable and discernible. In addition, products like makeup can have a significant impact in how people are physically viewed, evaluated, and also begin to see themselves. However, the main point of the post still holds.
It's important to discuss Google's place in YouTube as Google is an incredibly data driven company. In another post, I discussed how intersectionality & analytics has greatly changed the landscape of the internet over the past decade. Combining Google's analytical models with compensation from Google adsense, there's always going to be an attempt for people looking for financial compensation to try to figure out the analytics Google is using to determine trends, recommendations, and advertisements. A notable trend among prominent content creators on the platform is to release videos on a weekly or a biweekly basis. Such a frequent upload schedule is a gesture for such users to stay relevant not just to their user base, but to the algorithm so it continues to push the user in recommended feeds to people who may be watching similarly themed videos. However, being able to push out such content in 2019 is a commitment. It's a commitment in so much as the expectations for quality and throughput are much higher than they were five or even ten years ago. Anyone who works in a high performance job understands that the hardest expectation to meet from a consumer base is not just quality, but consistency.
I have noticed a rather disturbing trend in the growth of popularity in both commentary and commentator channels. These channels are primarily concerned with "reviewing" the content on someone else's channel that has garnered attention. However, this "review" usually boils down to a criticism of common consensus that is leveraged against material that is would agreed by most to be outlandish. Most recently, commentary in fashion channels usually dedicated to hair, skin, nails, & beauty products have gravitated towards drama regarding James Charles & Tati while gaming channels when not reviewing the awful state of Triple-A games have been discussing the polyamarous relationship between ProJared, his wife, his friend, and all his fans on the internet. This is not going to actually touch upon either of these cases, because this isn't about these granular instances of drama. As these instances are simply a means to an end for users to not actually have to invest in creating content about the initial material. I think that fashion and video games suffer from a common problem as they are empty, consumer products that are continuing in a downward trend to become more vacuous with less & less passion being poured into them.
Fashion as a field in and of itself is one of the most subjective and least substantial fields with trends being copied, knocked off, and in vogue from one day to the next. Recent designs are so ridiculous that naked models are "wearing" another naked model draped across them like a piece of clothing while they walk down a runway. Kanye's clothing brand literally looks like clothes for homeless people. And it's always been the case that higher price point jeans for some indescribable reason has to have holes in them compared to buying whole jeans at a much lower price point. Furthermore a Louis Vuitton cotton canvas bag is covered with... polyvinyl chloride (PVC) which is the same material as shrink wrap.
Videogames on the other hand have not aged well with the triple A industry using the live service model to release some terrible games that are arguably still in a beta like state like Fall Out 76 and Anthem. Literally gaming channels seem just as dedicated towards trashing new games as they are about going into nostalgia mode about playing the Legend of Zelda on the NES. It seems like there is little to no passion for the specialty they are in with many channels seemingly more interested in discussing the downfall of Game Stop with its recent changes in administrative leadership rather than covering any indie games that have come out of the pipeline within the past 5 years.
These are aspects where if one doesn't diversify, then there isn't a lot of variation from one channel to another. However, YouTube's algorithm is still looking for weekly/biweekly submissions to meet its criteria that a creator is still relevant. When there's no other material to release or when the slow burn of burnout is working its way into the creative processes, it becomes tempting to highlight other people's epic failures as content material when it feels like you are working so hard to stay afloat. I think a catch-22 with content creators is that YouTube is not favorable to pivoting. Pivoting in business is the act of going into another product line or business when the initial sales of a product isn't meeting the intended market. The issue with dedicated content material is that it's easy to form growth around a target demographic to gain initial steam, however it's difficult to transition out when there is too much at stake e.g. financial livelihood which results in diminishing returns for continuing to go down such a path. I would actually identify this mindset as being analogous to a sunk cost fallacy, if personal growth suffers and content is related to personal growth then that individual is losing out in terms of human capital and long term growth by depersonalizing themselves.
Criticism on other videos has become common with other YouTubers highlighting the lack of effects, audio quality, visual presentation, and other factors that are on another person's video. I believe that a large part of this criticism culture stems from creator burnout. It's very hard to be a performer, game the algorithm, and also to have a fan base that can come one day and leave the next if their base expectations aren't met. What fails to be understood is that by virtue signaling disgust, it makes the bar for performance even higher for creators to actually meet. And in truth, although presentation quality is important it is not the main point. The main point is to have content or a message to share with other individuals. However, what I see trending on YouTube's trending are people who are very good at guessing and gaming the algorithm's metrics which are honestly... superficial. Perhaps I'm a little touched in the head, but when YouTubers refer to themselves as independent content creators, the key words are not "content" "creator" or "content creator." The key word is being independent, having a unique and individual outlook that isn't tied to trying to game a system or an algorithm by covering trash content. There are enough official outlets for trash material like that such as TMZ which fulfills its purpose to people who get off on that sort of content. Videos with great production quality are wonderful, but what I'm observing from many of these videos is that they have a hired production team, bought designer slide assets, and merchandise of services. When people are committed to imitating a business, you may present the material as an individual but you become essentially nothing more than a mouthpiece for collective interest.
The biggest issue for me is for young consumers who are introduced into this existing medium with videos that are basically at production quality with high views, high likes, high trends, and highly appeals to the masses. There are so many ecosystems that mimic this statistical analytical game where people are socially trained to treat these platforms as actual platformers. It's insane. Normally such a mindset to treat social interaction as a means to an end was considered to be something analogous to sociopathy/psychopathy as these individuals were divorced from any interest of establishing a genuine connection. When twitter, instagram, and YouTube are played for a formula because they run an actual formula, what is getting lost is the actual process of socializing as an independent thought process. And the reason why cannibalization of socialization is occurring is because its far more easy to sell advertisements and products to people who have been conditioned by pattern learning than to attempt to sell to someone who is independent and will buy whatever the **** they want to buy.
Writer's Post-note: Sorry, I made a mistake. Products that feature on beauty YouTube channels are not about fashion and more about cosmetics e.g. makeup and skin supplements. I actually think that makeup application can be considered technical enough to merit consideration for being a substantial topic of interest. The difference between well applied and poorly applied makeup is noticeable and discernible. In addition, products like makeup can have a significant impact in how people are physically viewed, evaluated, and also begin to see themselves. However, the main point of the post still holds.
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