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In the belly of the MrBeast

kevinmunger.substack.com

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Re: In the belly of the MrBeast

#161

Post by magicalhippo »

jonasced wrote: post #142
magicalhippo wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I do agree it has a very strong focus on suggesting more of what you've recently watched, I feel it's also managing to suggest new and interesting unrelated stuff from time to time. Some habits I have is to subscribe to channels which I truly enjoy, instead of marking as "not interested" I select "do not suggest channel", and be cautious of click-bait titles. If I get lured in, I remove them from my history. So…

I too liked to prime my own algorithm but Yanis Varoufakis book Technofeudalism kind of ruined it for me. On a individual level it's nice to get good recommendations, but on a societal level I think it's starting to get a bit scary to the point of me wanting to opt out and instead curate my own feeds based on first hand sources.

Yeah I get your point, though I almost exclusively use YouTube as an alternative to TV entertainment. That is, rather than watching Mythbusters, I'm watching Numberphile, FarmCraft101 and such.

I specifically do not normally view "pure" news or similar. I might make the rare exception, like in case of the LA fire where I saw a clip from PBS. That is a very conscious choice, for reasons similar to what you express.

Re: In the belly of the MrBeast

#162

Post by esafak »

cjs_ac wrote: post #43
michaelcampbell wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't purely new, either. I'm perhaps dating myself a bit but I recall that over the years I have seen a few actors have this weird vibe where they're never "human", they always "on" and seem like their actor-thing has totally subsumed their humanity. David Cassidy and Shirley McClain come to mind for me on this.

Peter Sellers also had this problem; in his case, it was a problem with his personality (or lack of one) rather than something acting did to him.

Comedians seem to exhibit this trait more often than others. Norm Macdonald had a somewhat similar vibe.

Re: In the belly of the MrBeast

#163

Post by munchler »

cedws wrote: post #138

I think MrBeast and other high end influencers like the Paul brothers are harmful to children. Kids see them flaunting their huge wealth and abandon all their other ambitions in favour of wanting to become a YouTuber. Which, now, is a very competitive platform few succeed on. Kids should be nudged towards working fruitful careers beneficial to society. Although MrBeast has done some good things with it, I find the wa…

> Kids should be nudged towards working fruitful careers beneficial to society.

It’s all about incentives. I think we should nudge society towards rewarding kids who choose fruitful careers.

Re: In the belly of the MrBeast

#164

Post by mrguyorama »

qskousen wrote: post #87
michaelcampbell wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't purely new, either. I'm perhaps dating myself a bit but I recall that over the years I have seen a few actors have this weird vibe where they're never "human", they always "on" and seem like their actor-thing has totally subsumed their humanity. David Cassidy and Shirley McClain come to mind for me on this.

I realize I'm probably in the minority for this, but for me when people create a "persona" for their media, it turns me away. I prefer watching people who are more genuine, whose content is less entertainment and more just themselves, even if that isn't what the internet seems to be looking for.

The people you consider "more genuine" are just cultivating a different persona.

Don't ever believe you "know" someone you don't. Parasocial relationships are harmless at the low level but quickly become toxic.

Always meet your heros so you can understand they are normal and flawed humans

Re: In the belly of the MrBeast

#165

Post by kccoder »

hn8726 wrote: post #30
infecto wrote: post #9

Not entirely related to MrBeast but related to YouTube. I genuinely miss the older algorithm where after watching a video you would go progressively further down a hole of videos somehow related to the one you just watched. It was quite entertaining and really uncovered fascinating videos.

I have no clue how to use YouTube. It seems like as soon as it latches on 3-4 interests of mine, the entire home page is exclusively filled with videos relating to that. I can mark videos as "not interesting" but it doesn't do much. I will see exactly the same videos on the home screen, ones that I'm not interested in and don't plan on watching, for weeks or months sometimes. I'm sure there's plenty of interesting co…

I made the mistake of clicking on a Jordan Peterson video several years back. I'd never heard of him before and the title seemed interesting, so I clicked. 15 seconds in my charlatan detector went off, so I exited the video. For the next couple weeks I was playing wack-a-mole with a never-ending supply of manoshpere and right wing nonsense. Easy to see how so many people get sucked into sphere of influence.

Re: In the belly of the MrBeast

#166

Post by oulipo »

iambateman wrote: post #4

First of all – the essay is phenomenal and his book is available online for free – https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/youtube-apparatus/36... > “Communication within the YouTube Apparatus has no meaning.” The rapid feedback loop between creators and audiences (as constructed by platform metrics) means that the system more and more responds to itself. Rather than trying to go somewhere (as is the case with politi…

Exactly, intensification or acceleration, this is exactly the root of most issues. Since we've mastered energy (and in particular oil&gas), the world has been on an acceleration binge, which is now causing a lot of friction and overheating in the relationships and environment.

We need to slow down and to connect back to nature

Re: In the belly of the MrBeast

#167

Post by lanternfish »

tdb7893 wrote: post #156

So firstly I think for understanding YouTube it's much longer but it's better to just read Mr Beasts onboarding guide ( https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YaG9xpu-WQKBPUi8yQ4HaDYQLUS... ). It gives a more complete picture straight from the horses mouth (and I always prefer primary documents if I can). That being said I think the author here is taking some things for granted. An example of this to me is "As I wrote in t…

Your conclusion is the exact same one the above essay comes to in the next paragraphs. It concludes that the "alignment" between MrBeast and his work is a result of the larger thesis: creators are ultimately created by the audience conditions of the platform. Or, authenticity doesn't mean much when the root of the creator isn't a ground truth, but a synthesis of demand.

Re: In the belly of the MrBeast

#168

Post by ndileas »

cedws wrote: post #138

I think MrBeast and other high end influencers like the Paul brothers are harmful to children. Kids see them flaunting their huge wealth and abandon all their other ambitions in favour of wanting to become a YouTuber. Which, now, is a very competitive platform few succeed on. Kids should be nudged towards working fruitful careers beneficial to society. Although MrBeast has done some good things with it, I find the wa…

Franz Liszt is a Menace to Society and all those whose consider themselves Decent, Hardworking, Folk should warn their Children aginst[sic] him. Composition is of course a Good, but the competition is too steep, and if the Young seek to imitate the likes of him it will end in Tears. The Young should be guided, steered into more reliable, beneficial aspirations.

Re: In the belly of the MrBeast

#169

Post by jasonmarks_ »

kube-system wrote: post #149
jasonmarks_ wrote: post #68

His view counts seem cooked to me. I would be interested to see what countries his viewers are claiming to be from. This article even reads as a guerilla upsell that his numbers are legitimate. Surely the urge to cheat is unbearable with millions of dollars on the hook. (Alot of apps on the app stores also claim to have quarter million 5 star reviews. Uhhuh)

His viewers skew younger. Kids have a lot of time on their hands. Given how ubiquitously well-known he is among younger people, I doubt there's much fraud necessary.

I agree the kids will take it at face value all the more reason to not tolerate massive deception. What if his teaching them fraudulent representation pays. All pro athletes cheat a little bit at the highest levels but exceptional cheating is never tolerated.

Re: In the belly of the MrBeast

#170

Post by kccoder »

roland35 wrote: post #38

It's interesting how this is happening in software engineering YouTube content as well. It seems like things like "go sucks rust is great! Now rust sucks and zig is great!!" get way more views since it is basically clickbait for nerds. It's too bad that nuanced discussion doesn't do too well on social media.

I've similar trends here in regards to new languages, technologies, ... People love to bandwagon.
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