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This is why gatekeepers are still a good thing, and now the gatekeepers are themselves somewhat democratized. Lots of people now have their favorite YouTuber /
by isx726552 2y ago
This is why gatekeepers are still a good thing, and now the gatekeepers are themselves somewhat democratized. Lots of people now have their favorite YouTuber / Podcaster / etc. and get book recommendations from them. And there is now a much bigger selection of gatekeepers to choose from given the variety of content on those platforms. It’s not perfect, but overall it is an improvement in many ways.
Now yes I would agree that a fully flat, bottom up, “everyone is a publisher” world where everyone is on equal footing (including the spammers) is impractical, but then again who ever said that would happen or work if it did?
It remains to be seen what effect genAI has on all this, though. Long term, it seems likely that the need for gatekeeping will only increase due to the inevitable flood of more and more generated junk.
- panick21_ 2y agoExactly, I would never go to Amazon to look for books. I go to Amazon to buy a specific book. I already know what I want, Amazon is just the place I order it. Some stuff is also Amazon exclusive.
- pavel_lishin 2y agoI don't think that "gatekeeper" is the correct term for what you're describing. Isn't it closer to "influencer", or "taste-maker"?
- swatcoder 2y agoCurator. But otherwise, they're right. Curation and informal trust networks are the only way out.
- al_borland 2y agoI’ve been trying to divest from Amazon as a source for products, and am looking to use more traditional stores to curate my options. They have buyers that vet stuff to some degree, and if the product is bad, they’ll take it back. If enough people think it’s bad, they’ll stop selling it.