The Accidental Slop Machine
Mike Brodge looking back on the evolution of the internet in the early 2000s and the "cambrian explosion of shit to scroll" that followed:
By the 2010's social media and mobile grabbed hold of our attention, and we spent less time browsing and more time pulling to refresh.Let us not forget the brilliant pull-to-refresh interaction developed by a third party Twitter app called Tweetie.
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And then the algorithm took over the job entirely. The feeds on X, Youtube, TikTok, and Instagram are the most perfect personalization machines ever created.
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The algorithm is PUSH internet in its most sadomasochistic form.
It had never occurred to me before.
Tweetie and its "brilliant pull-to-refresh interaction" made the feed feel more alive, controllable and playable.
It did not invent slop.
But it gave the feed a handle to pull.