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But Klinmanexplained in a thread:There is simply no money in making comedy online anymore.
Facebook has completely destroyed independent digital comedy and we need to fucking talk about it.
Were not sure about you, but that certainly piqued our interest.
So: What happened at Funny or Die?
Funny or Die just went through a period of changing their business model.
Lets talk about the Twitter thread you wrote on the day of the layoffs.
For a long time, that was fine.
People posted things on Facebook, then you would click those links and go to their websites.
In these situations recently, like withCracked, people get mad at the management and at the companies.
The problem is that Facebook is our editor and our boss.
They decide what is successful and what isnt successful via seemingly meaningless metrics.
They hide behind algorithms that they change constantly.
Facebook has created a centrally designed internet.
Its a lamer, shittier looking internet.
How did this all happen?
From there, their algorithm takes over, with no transparency.
The worst part is that as an artist, it feels like your own fault.
But thats just not true in this world.
And then it becomes impossible to know what a good thing to make is anymore.
Facebook hides behind all of this machinery, when what theyre doing is very human.
Recommending things for people is a personal act, and there are people who are good at it.
Well, this is scary and depressing.
What can we do to fix it?
First, linking out would be great.
It would at least get people back to normal websites.
Now its less so.
The other alternative would be to just pay, like cable had to do.
When someone does high-quality labor, you pay.
Its Facebook getting rich off of your work.
These media companies need leverage against this massive entity that is eating their lunch.
Thats the labor problem.
Zuckerberg is saying I want to fix Facebook this year.
Well this, to me, is the biggest thing that needs fixing.
Take, for example,Homestar Runner,which was more than a website it was a whole ecosystem.
It was beautiful, created with love, a work of art.
Thats how we have a Russian propaganda problem.
Its the same for comedy websites.
Theres a reason thatMadmagazine looks different fromVanity Fair.
They need to convey a different aesthetic and a different tone for their content to really pop.
Facebook is the great de-contextualizer.
They control our memories, and it traps us there and makes us feel like we cant leave.
My family and friends are there, posting life updates I want to see.
Then you start scrolling, and hours pass by, and youre dazed.
You might not even remember if you saw a cool thing, because it kind of all blends together.
Youre really depressing me.
Well, there are all these studies that Facebook is literally depressing.
Its the same thing with content.
Are we putting on rose-colored glasses when we look at how things used to be on the internet?
Submit jokes or freelance or whatever.
But right now theres no pipeline and no growth.
Theres no incentive to make a collaborative project online.
Facebook says that they are building communities, but really theyre fracturing us.
We are all on our own little news bubbles and on our own little islands.
Its also fracturing our own creative projects.
It used to be fruitful, but its like a desert now.
It was just trees in a perfect, human-devised formation that you could walk through.
Within a generation, these trees were emaciated and dying.
Because thats how a forest works it needs to be chaotic.
It needs bugs and leaves, it makes the whole thriving ecosystem possible.
Thats what this new internet should be.
It wont survive as this human-designed, top-down thing that is optimized for programmatic ads.
It feels like a desert.
Theres no nutrition, theres no opportunity to do anything cool.
Facebook put all this money into Live, and a bunch of cool things sprang up.
And thats because they put money into it.
If you arent paying people, those things arent going to happen.
But then Facebook stopped the live thing and then that was it.
What do you think the future of comedy on the internet looks like right now?
Right now its memes.
I think memes are great, but its literally the smallest unit of an idea.
And they are being made by individual people for free.
There are just fewer and fewer opportunities that will be there for you if you do something cool.
I wish those were the arguments that I was having.
I find myself talking to sales people from these companies, and were on the same page.
They are the ones who see this more than anybody.
But I feel like one of the central problems is that people dont expect to pay for content anymore.
Its like eating locally or shopping locally.
We need to think the same way about the internet.
When you go to Facebook, youre going to Walmart.
Im still on Facebook, although almost exclusively to post anti-Facebook things.
But at this point, dont we need some sort of platform that organizes and curates content?
Its difficult to find things on the internet, being the cat searching around the house for its food.
Were too busy to do all of this shit.
I understand that desire, but there needs to be a balance.
They drive us toward more and more extreme beliefs.
Like, if Facebook is showing me an article, it needs to tell me why.
Facebook flattens out content, but it is also flattening out people.
Its turning us into robots.
Im going to sound like Alex Jones here, but this is how it works.
You just keep showing someone the same thing over and over until they engage with it.
A flattened internet is a predictable internet, and a flattened person is a predictable person.
What do you want to come from what happened at Funny or Die?
Is any comedy outlet doing well?
For example, isThe Onionin danger?
And woe to those who want to start something new right now.
What advice would you give to a comedian who starting up right now?
But instead of Why did my wife leave me because of you?
its like, Why did you destroy the internet comedy scene?
Live comedy still rules.
Theres cool stuff going on.
What you are seeing in comedy is that its swinging toward standup.
Its great and I have no problem with standup, but its not collaborative, its one person.
But imagine if youre someone who doesnt have that privilege maybe you have student loan debt.
Places like Funny or Die were finally equaling out our writing staff.
It was something we really cared about.
What would you say if you did go to One Hacker Way like a crazy person?
Its theJurassic Parklesson: Just because you’ve got the option to do something doesnt mean you should.
you better think through what youre doing.
But they need to start being thoughtful of what theyre doing.
Sarah Aswell is a freelance writer and standup who lives in Missoula, Montana.
If you want her in your daily life, you canfollow her on Twitter.
