Goofy stuff ranks well right now

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

Post spam update the results in my corner of the web have some new sites I've never seen before. One is a "news" site reporting on what's being said in social media which has little to do with the query and isn't actual news.

On the rise - entertaining brain rot
On the decline - makes you smarter

Advertising on goofy sites is cheaper, too.

[Dimitri]

On the rise - entertaining brain rot
On the decline - makes you smarter

May be this what Google's users are looking for.

[robzilla]

May be this what Google's users are looking for.

It's a tricky thing. One of my fears is that it may not even be what they're looking for but they might respond well to it and so lead any algorithm to think that's what they were looking for, and to then further reward that sort of content. Does that mean query intent was met? I'm not so sure, perhaps they were only distracted.

Facebook and Instagram are cesspools of that sort of "entertaining brain rot", mostly in the video departments, and I now avoid these platforms as much as I can because it bothers me that everything is so obviously designed for me to keep consuming, regardless of whether it's high or low quality (but much of it is fluff). The problem is that it works on a lot of people, we're easily conned into that kind of consumption; I often have to really pull myself away from it.

Unfortunately I see the same thing on Google Discover. Mixed with stuff I actually find interesting is a lot of fluff and mind-numbing content they apparently think I might enjoy, but if I've enjoyed it in the past it was reluctantly or in moments of weakness, and I don't want that stuff to be reinforced. Not much you can do, unfortunately, except stop using it (telling Discover not to show a certain topic or site just gets it replaced by other goofy stuff).

Thankfully a Google search always starts with a query, I have more control over what it feeds back to me. And I'm hoping Google will not rely on user feedback too much, as counterintuitive as that may seem.

Not sure if that was related to your point, just what came to my mind.

[tangor]

Many users were brought up on vision education (tv, film, comics) and are easily distracted. Those who can be distracted often spend MORE time on site than others, thus more "profitable".

Face it, there are more of those kind of folks than the rest. :(

[Pjman]

Yeah, If you have a circa 2010 profile, let's face it we are old timers and don't really understand this new generation at all. They don't either for that matter.

This new crop searches in a really weird way. Both of my kids 17 and 20 go to Tick Tok first for everything.

I'm doing my best to understand how to capture them, but it is Puzzle covered in a mystery, at best.

[anubitez]

is it me or does goofy stuff index super quick too? like more than the legit sources.

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

Pjman, I find you can't capture them because like anything captured they'll reject and resent. You can, however, broaden their horizon by exposing them to more than can be found on TikTok. I'm an old fogey now and have very few regrets in life but a major one is not learning more languages when I could, I wrote about it here [webmasterworld.com...]

Yes, Goofy stuff indexes super quickly if people take notice of it and share it at a high rate. I hope education value becomes part of what an AI looks for, eventually. Maybe it already is and avoids it, only a computer knows.

[RubicCubed]

On the rise - entertaining brain rot
On the decline - makes you smarter

Maybe the rise of rot is to match the intellect of the searcher, who have suffered brain rot themselves from using Google for so many years? This might also explain why we get many idiotic questions regarding our products from Google's users. I mean some questions are so out there, it makes one wonder if they can even dress themselves. Anyway, a dumbed down searcher is more likely to be click happy and click many ads which also makes Google happy.

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

Maybe the rise of rot is to match the intellect of the searcher.

The avg IQ has been in a scary decline for some years now(https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/iq-rates-are-dropping-many-developed-countries-doesn-t-bode-ncna1008576) but I don't think that's what influences AI to dumb down.

The art of the troll is on the rise. Have you heard what trolls have been able to make AI do akready?

Back in 2016 when microsoft decided to let their AI bot loose on Twitter trolls quickly turned it into a nazi. [cbsnews.com...]

Before you hate the trolls, know that most of them are decent people who would help someone in need, in the real world. Online is their escape according to researchers and the goal isn't malice, it's a battle of wits to see who can make the biggest "funny" happen. Trolling AI is just a challenge to some.... which makes it a challenge for AI, too.

Byproduct - the weirder the content is to begin with the more easily it can be trolled. Stuff that makes you smarter isn't fun to troll, apparently.

Many prefer comics to books... AI thinks we all want more comics as a result. More fodder for trolls. More hilarity ensues. AI digs up more weird stuff... it's quite the rabbit hole imo.

I'm reminded of a screenshot I saw recently between the front page of Youtube next to the front page of the chinese version. The youtube version was full of thumbnails of people with open mouths and silly videos. The chinese version was entirelly educational in nature.

Perhaps it's more a reflection of regional values? Whatever the case, weird stuff is doing really well right now.