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Kevin Munger
kevinmunger.substack.com · Personal blog · on HN since 2020
Kevin Munger, a political scientist, writes a Substack on media theory, YouTube, social platforms and research methods.
What HN saysCommenters use his essays and book on the 'YouTube Apparatus' to discuss creators optimizing for platform metrics, MrBeast and changing ideas of authenticity.
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What HN people wrote when they linked it
stafford_beer · 2025-01-14
OP here -- I like Baudrillard and McLuhan but the media theorist who best captures the present IMO is Flusser: https://kevinmunger.substack.com/p/the-discourse-is-the-cybernetic-eve…
j_bum · 2025-03-04
Re: interpellation [0]. This was highlighted in a recent article about Mr. Beast [1].
Hadn’t considered this being a truth for her channel, but I can see what you mean.
[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interpellation_(philosophy)
[1] https://kevinmunger.substack.com/p/in-the-belly-of-the-mrbeast
disqard · 2025-02-14
Yeah, Kevin Munger's book skillfully dissects what he calls "The YouTube Apparatus" [0]
The creators aren't really tuning their output based on consumer feedback, they're actually optimizing for the platform's metrics, so it's the (algorithmic) machine incentivizing humans to essentially feed it money.
[0] https://kevinmunger.substack.com/p/in-the-belly-of-the-mrbeast
xxr · 2025-01-15
"At this point, we have to accept that younger generations—precisely the people who have been raised on quantified audience feedback for their every creative gesture—have an unrecognizable conception of authenticity."[0]
[0]https://kevinmunger.substack.com/p/in-the-belly-of-the-mrbeast