What the hell is happening on the internet?
As this viral tweet posits, without an apex media predator in Ellen DeGeneres, internet characters are sticking around long enough to become media figures in their own right. Being on the cusp of Milliennials and Gen Z, I have stubbonly refused to install TikTok which means I have no idea who the hell characters like “Beavo” or the “Schooner scorer” are.
Luckily, like anything on the internet, there is a podcast for that.
The screen rot podcast is a sort of media literacy for the social media age. While anyone could poke fun at some internet figure for an hour, these guys are amazing at finding that one that killer insight. When analysing the enigma of Beavo, they presented a clip of Beavo saying “I will do anything” for views. In the process of throwing “trends” on the wall and seeing what sticks, we see how Beavo started eating food on camera and accidently became famous because it turns out he doesn’t chew food before swallowing it…
My favourite “internet” newsletter, Garbage Day, had a similar take on Mr Beast:
“His success is less of a reflection of his own entertainment knowhow and more a reflection of what YouTube’s algorithm looks like when stripped raw.”
I love this newsletter because it traces how memes and stories make it into the mainstream, which is increasingly important since memes can now directly influence White House policies. As Garbage day explains, “DOGE was cutting federal funding in direct response to posts from right-wing activist Chris Rufo […] Even the name, ‘Department of Government Efficiency,’ came from an Elon Musk reply guy going by ‘Sir Doge Of The Coin.’”
With this kind of stuff happening in the world, it’s probably better off reading this newsletter than paying for the Economist.
A more traditionally “serious” source of analysis is the excellent If you’re listening show on YouTube. This handles larger geopolitical issues, and does a really good job of painting the overall picture in an entertaining format. They also also picked up on the idea that politics is now being influence by memes and tweets. They traced how an AI video of a resort in Gaza was designed specifically to influence Trump’s policy in the Middle East.
Maybe all this analysis is futile, but at least it’s entertaining.