Trust Me, I'm Lying
You've seen it all before. A malicious online rumor costs a company millions. A political sideshow derails the national news cycle and destroys a candidate. Some product or celebrity zooms from total obscurity to viral sensation. What you don't know is that someone is responsible for all this. Usually, someone like me. I'm a media manipulator. In a world where blogs control and distort the news, my job is to control blogs-as much as any one person can. In today's culture... 1) Blogs like Gawker, Buzzfeed and the Huffington Post drive the media agenda. 2) Bloggers are slaves to money, technology, and deadlines. 3) Manipulators wield these levers to shape everything you read, see and watch-online and off. Why am I giving away these secrets? Because I'm tired of a world where blogs take indirect bribes, marketers help write the news, reckless journalists spread lies, and no one is accountable for any of it. I'm pulling back the curtain because I don't want anyone else to get blindsided. I'm going to explain exactly how the media really works. What you choose to do with this information is up to you. From the Trade Paperback edition.
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What Hacker News says
- It's quite old now, but check out the book "Trust me, I'm lying" by Ryan Holiday. Talks about how he did this as part of a marketing strategy when he was working at (IIRC) American Apparel, among other places. And how easy/often it happens in politics. Keep in mind the book is almost 15 years old, and talking about things that even at that point were what he'd done in a previous life/career.
- Or, for a more current and better developed discussion, Ryan Holiday’s Trust Me I’m Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator.
- I keep a mental list of some of my favorites of these: I remember seeing a popular post on Reddit like "My girlfriend's sweater matched her cup" with a cropped figure of a woman holding a cup that looked like her sweater and behind her there was a pack of Oreos on the counter. I also wonder about the initial Sonic design leading up to the movie release. There was a huge wave of "bad" press over the terrible design, then another wave of "good" press when they fixed it. You kind of never know but these are definitely the sorts of things I'd want to be thinking up if I worked in marketing. Trust Me I'm Lying is a great book on the topic and it's probably a quintessential book of our time along with enshitification.
- An ex friend of mine was once involved in some thing where they got paid to astroturf for Monsanto. Despite living in the city, they suddenly developed deeply informed opinions about glyphosate and how important it is for agriculture, and they would share these opinions aggressively in online discussions along with pro-Monsanto articles. It was disturbing to watch because the behavior was completely uncharacteristic (and seemingly in conflict with their core beliefs). One day they quit doing it just as suddenly.
This was before the heyday of influencer culture, so I can only imagine how sophisticated things are nowadays. It’s not always bots.
I recommend the book Trust Me, I’m Lying for a deep but somewhat dated look at the online influence industry.
- I absolutely agree with the role of social media on our rising polarization.
Many people have talked about and analyzed this. But the analysis that I find most insightful is also the first one that I read. https://www.amazon.com/Trust-Me-Lying-Confessions-Manipulato.... It not only discusses how the dynamics of what goes viral leads to polarization, it also explains how the economics of how news is delivered today mirror those that created the yellow press over a century ago. And why both wind up delivering polarizing conspiracy theories with limited factual accuracy.
I have no idea what to do about the problem. But at least I feel that I can understand it.
- The persistent popularity of discussing how AI is supposedly bad for the environment actually gives me the opposite impression.
Ever since reading Ryan Holiday's book, Trust Me, I'm Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator, popular controversies like this always make me wonder who benefits from their continued discussion.
Every time someone talks about how AI is using energy, that's free, viral publicity advertising AI, keeping us obsessed with talking about it for one reason or another. The controversy makes it stickier in our brains. It makes it feel relevant even if you aren't using the product yet.
And yes, when done correctly, a leading figure in AI acknowledging the allegation and responding to it helps to further our obsession with the idea. The reassurance might not be to assuage, but rather to keep us engaged.
