Growing Old Online [Content Made Simple]
Growing Old Online [Content Made Simple]
Issue: 283: TikTok taking over, Dude Perfect Disneyland, and more.
TOP OF THE WEEK
Growing Old Online
Quote:
Millennials are getting old, and everyone is going to have to hear about it. Characteristically and in the only way we know how, we are making it everybody’s problem. Until somewhat recently, I felt like I knew where the lines were, and who was on which team. I felt like I knew who was old online, and who was young, who was the butt of the jokes, and who was making them. But in the last few years, those categories have shifted.
The hierarchy in online social spaces is changing as we reach a series of page breaks: The oldest millennials have already turned 40, and the youngest are staring down 30. Our slang terms are embarrassing, and our memes are outdated; the clothes we wore the first time around in middle school or high school are in retro fashion for teens and young adults who weren’t alive yet for Y2K.
People have been old online before, and young people online get older online every day. But millennials are, arguably, the first generation to have been young on social media and to then get older there. Those of us in our mid- to late thirties may have been extremely online for more than two decades, going through more stages of a life cycle here than anyone else yet has. Other people have been old on here before, but they weren’t here when they were young.
Commentary:
This is a really good article. I have begun to think about this a lot lately. The first generation to have the internet in their homes and their pockets as teenagers is beginning to learn what it means to grow old online. Millennials are becoming the old internet people they used to make fun of. What does this mean for the internet? And for users? Worth thinking about, I think.
THE TRIVIA QUESTION
Which American sitcom won 37 Emmys during its run? (The most of any sitcom.)
Answer at the bottom.
HITTING THE LINKS
Link #1: The TikTokization of Everything
This is a nerdy piece, so be warned. But very insightful.
Perhaps no use of AI is more visible to more people than TikTok’s For You Page. TikTok pioneered the immersive, algorithmic For You Page to curate content…well, for you. Each posted video is pushed to an initial set of viewers, then evaluated based on how those viewers respond to it—how long they watch, if they like the video, if they comment on it, and so on. If viewers respond well, the video is pushed to even more viewers, and the cycle continues.
I confess: I have never watched a single Dude Perfect video. But this is wild! Good for them.
For Dude Perfect super-fans, it may be the equivalent of Disney World.
The five-member comedy and sports YouTube creators — who have a massive following of more than 58 million subscribers on the platform — are planning a new Dude Perfect headquarters and “family-friendly” entertainment destination.
The new three-story HQ building will feature a 330-foot “trick-shot tower,” a Dude Perfect museum, mini golf, a merch store, restaurants and 2 acres of outdoor space. The facility could cost as much as $100 million to build, the group told the Dallas Morning News.
Link #3: YouTube Shorts adds narration voiceovers, a popular TikTok feature
YouTube is doing everything they can to make their Shorts product more appealing for creators than TikTok is for them. The thought is that if Shorts is more appealing for creators, then viewers will follow creators to YouTube’s TikTok clone. Curious to see if it will work.
YouTube Shorts continues to compete with TikTok by adding loads of new features that are popular on the other app. Today, the Google-owned platform is rolling out a narration voiceover feature on iOS, a tool that is already often used on TikTok.
Creators use narration to add commentary on top of already recorded videos. Such content might include cooking tutorials with instructional voiceovers, live reactions to funny videos or narrative accompaniment to “day in the life” or “my morning routine”-style videos.
THE FUNNY PART
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