How YouTube Rewards Packaging Over Substance

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And even then, I don’t think MrBeast represents the full scope of the problem in this “Medium is the Message” post-McLuhan reality: as pop culture YouTuber and Screen Junkies alum Dan Murrell points out in our recent Deep Linkers episode, videos on the platform used to be “a lot more driven by the quality, the polish or the hook, the quality of the jokes. Today it’s about how are you positioning to get people to notice…it’s about the packaging.”

That extends to idealogy as well. “At this point on YouTube ‘woke’ is a brand,” Murrell told Passionfruit – and to be explicitly clear because media literacy isn’t prioritized these days, he’s speaking about creators who use the term pejoratively – “You put it on the thumbnail, and people know what they’re going to get when they click it. It’s a known. You have a base of consumers…it’s a brand. Ideology can become part of that packaging.”

And that just blows. Because while there was a certain cynicism inherent in clickbait, it has nothing on the absolute malicious nihilism of constructing your entire online identity around hate-mongering nonsense that you didn’t even believe in until YouTube started rewarding your worst takes about Star Wars with a generous Kool-Aid pour of views. You see it everywhere, and you start thinking, “This is what I need to do to break through the noise on YouTube.” In fact, that’s just going to contribute to it.

So, while we all have to make a buck on the web, remember that the packaging doesn’t determine the content. Your brand shouldn’t dictate or override a genuine expression of creativity. You’re still in control of this car and where it’s going, and sometimes it’s okay not to follow the ride in front of you…especially when it’s headed off a cliff.

*Sorry, I don’t know cars; picture whatever the gaudiest one is, or like a million-dollar yacht with Tom Brady.


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