The Business of Outrage

 Karen Read and the Business of Outrage at the True Crime Times.

Like the author, I was not surprised that the mere mention of her name increased clicks, but I was surprised at the extent of it.  I do believe in rationality and choice.  But sometimes we are just pigeons hitting the bar for another pellet of food.

 He’s building his brand, finding it difficult to get traction, and every post has a couple hundred views and maybe a handful of likes. Then he tweets something innocuous about Karen Read, and suddenly the views are in the thousands. He does it again, this time with something more provocative. And the views grow. And he begins to learn that the quality of the reactions—good or bad, pro or con, supportive or troll—doesn’t matter. A view is a view. A hate retweet gooses the stats just as much, and sometimes more, than a supportive one. In the ancient days of social media—circa the year of our Lord 2008—the “ratio” was a thing to be dreaded. Now, it’s all engagement, whether good or bad.

Thank you to bsking for the link