4 ms·

there's a lot of cynicism here! there's no great mystery to any of this, and what the article is saying is rather obvious (we remember the stuff we didn't fini

• wpietri 13y ago
  That's not cynicism. That's just reverse engineering a content business. I worked in publishing in the 90s, including doing some print design. I've done a fair bit of UI and information design since then. And I helped start a successful modern content business. Plus I write pretty much every day. I'm not saying anybody there intends to be evil. I'm sure they're all very nice. I'm saying that they're embedded in a business context that shapes behavior. The incentives work strongly against thoughtful, sober journalism, and toward high-viral, high-click, high-engagement content that stimulates a need without ever really satisfying that.