How clips ate the internet

Feeds on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube Shorts, and similar platforms are increasingly driven by algorithms with competing incentives. Content visibility is harder to attribute to direct follows, past likes, or friends’ interests. “Clipping” turns content into bite-sized chunks and has become a business across the internet. Repeated appearance on feeds can brute-force attention, and attention becomes the primary goal. Platforms may dislike the practice but remain resigned to it. A $99 fitness tracker with an AI coach is presented as promising, while privacy concerns remain about sharing personal data with chatbots. Smart glasses are evaluated for whether finding things could justify upgrading, given their ability to track and assist.

"Once upon a time, you could probably guess why most things appeared on your feed. Maybe you followed the creator who posted it; maybe you'd liked their stuff in the past; maybe all your friends were into them. That's not how it works anymore, though. The stuff you see on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube Shorts, and elsewhere has become much harder to trace - the feeds are run by algorithms with lots of conflicting incentives, and are being gamed by an army of internet users you might not even know exist."

"It is increasingly possible to simply brute-force your way into people's consciousness simply by appearing on their feeds a lot, and attention is all that matters, brute force is good enough. Mia explains how this happened, why social media platforms seem to both hate it and be resigned to it, and what it means for our experience online."

"Of course, it all brings up the same questions as usual, about how you should preserve your privacy and whether you want to pour your vitals and feelings into a chatbot. But at least in this case, you do seem to get something back."

"In theory, your glasses have everything they need in order to keep tabs on your stuff; but is that worth the upgrade? Finally, Vee sticks around to help David answer a question from the Vergecast Hotline about smart glasses, and whether helping you find things could be a killer app for the new category."

Read at The Verge