Hosts
About the episode
Matt is joined by journalist Lane Brown from New York magazine to discuss his latest article that digs into the insidious world of online clipping and narrative campaigning. Lane discusses how virality and popularity are manufactured and engineered to resemble the improvised enthusiasm of human strangers; the companies behind these simulated trends; which movies, shows, bands, and viral moments were influenced by these tactics; how prevalent this is in media; how AI will play a role in this; and what to expect in the future (02:28). Matt finishes the show with a couple of predictions about Shrek 5 and The Social Reckoning (28:51).
Host: Matt Belloni
Guest: Lane Brown
Producers: Craig Horlbeck, Jessie Lopez, and Matt Pevic
Theme Song: Devon Renaldo