Some notes on influenceering • Hacker News Board

Re: Some notes on influenceering

#101

Post by ZephyrBlu » Wed, Jun 05, 2024, 7:10 PM UTC

gspencley wrote: post #98

ZephyrBlu wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My experience on the internet suggests that high-signal information usually has very low memetic fitness. All the good sources of information I've found have been buried away and I've come across them serendipitously. Not particularly surprising though, entertainment is the lowest common denominator so it's much easier for that kind of stuff to spread. High-signal information is the complete opposite: very few people…

> To be fair, most people aren't really looking for super high-signal info anyway. This is the charitable interpretation. It's not that people are necessarily dumb or that "the algorithm" is trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator. It's that the vast majority of the time, people are "engaging" with the Internet in order to seek out entertainment in the first place. The world wide web began its life as the p…

Yeah I agree. That was what the last bit of my comment was supposed to be about, but I unintentionally underplayed it a lot.

Re: Some notes on influenceering

#102

Post by omoikane » Wed, Jun 05, 2024, 8:42 PM UTC

luu wrote: post #8

> Some of my most popular posts are throwaway quips and memes that went viral on social media. One of my life’s crowning achievements is this: [witty, throwaway, quip tweet]. > In contrast, some of the work I put weeks or months into essentially lost the SEO game and gets nearly zero traffic ... Even though I don’t write for money, there is an immense pressure to produce clickbait — even if simply to add “hey, since…

It might be that things that take more effort to produce also take more effort to consume. When readers face a choice between a well-researched 100 page article versus a short (maybe low effort) quip of 100 characters, they are more likely to view the latter.

Re: Some notes on influenceering

#103

Post by bfuller » Wed, Jun 05, 2024, 9:21 PM UTC

bawolff wrote: post #31

luu wrote: post #8

> Some of my most popular posts are throwaway quips and memes that went viral on social media. One of my life’s crowning achievements is this: [witty, throwaway, quip tweet]. > In contrast, some of the work I put weeks or months into essentially lost the SEO game and gets nearly zero traffic ... Even though I don’t write for money, there is an immense pressure to produce clickbait — even if simply to add “hey, since…

I wonder though if there is a long term benefit. E.g. people might pay attention to you because of your reputation. Your reputation might be based on high effort posts (over the long term) even if they get less attention. The lower effort posts might get more direct attention but only because of your reputation which is indirectly caused by the high effort posts which much fewer people read. Just a theory, i wonder i…

I am more internet infamous, but my one viral success has impacted my life in more ways than I could explain. But that one success took 5 years of my life.

Re: Some notes on influenceering

#104

Post by sleno » Wed, Jun 05, 2024, 9:34 PM UTC

luu wrote: post #8

> Some of my most popular posts are throwaway quips and memes that went viral on social media. One of my life’s crowning achievements is this: [witty, throwaway, quip tweet]. > In contrast, some of the work I put weeks or months into essentially lost the SEO game and gets nearly zero traffic ... Even though I don’t write for money, there is an immense pressure to produce clickbait — even if simply to add “hey, since…

Funny how it happens like that. Maurice Ravel's most famous piece, Bolero, was written intended as a simple warmup for his orchestra.

Re: Some notes on influenceering

#105

Post by dpig_ » Fri, Jun 07, 2024, 2:11 AM UTC

gspencley wrote: post #98

ZephyrBlu wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My experience on the internet suggests that high-signal information usually has very low memetic fitness. All the good sources of information I've found have been buried away and I've come across them serendipitously. Not particularly surprising though, entertainment is the lowest common denominator so it's much easier for that kind of stuff to spread. High-signal information is the complete opposite: very few people…

> To be fair, most people aren't really looking for super high-signal info anyway. This is the charitable interpretation. It's not that people are necessarily dumb or that "the algorithm" is trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator. It's that the vast majority of the time, people are "engaging" with the Internet in order to seek out entertainment in the first place. The world wide web began its life as the p…

Saw this recently as the 'Toilet theory of the internet.' [0]

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40409671

Re: Some notes on influenceering

#106

Post by shufflerofrocks » Fri, Jun 07, 2024, 8:45 AM UTC

luu wrote: post #8

> Some of my most popular posts are throwaway quips and memes that went viral on social media. One of my life’s crowning achievements is this: [witty, throwaway, quip tweet]. > In contrast, some of the work I put weeks or months into essentially lost the SEO game and gets nearly zero traffic ... Even though I don’t write for money, there is an immense pressure to produce clickbait — even if simply to add “hey, since…

I think it has to do with the desire to consume organic content.

We're currently live in an SEO-optimised hell where everything is monetized. Years of wading through this swill has subconciously made us seek out spontaeneous, unplanned interactions and content, which seem more humane.

Thoughtless social media comments, quips, and many of the funny tweets are prime examples of stuff that is done for the fun of it, without any "ulterior motive" in mind, and refreshing to come across.