Meanwhile, back in the other Washington, Tucker Carlson has been fired by the Fox Television network. It’s been all over the media for the last couple of weeks, and it even made the headlines on all of the national news outlets when it happened. Since everyone is talking about it, we should too.
Then again, how about not.
What we should be doing is talking about the one question and the one answer that surrounds all of this. It’s really the only question and answer that matter.
The Question
The question about Tucker Carlson’s firing really has nothing to do with Tucker Carlson at all. It isn’t about how right or wrong his politics are. It isn’t about his position about the U.S. involvement with the Ukraine. It’s also not about some producer who is accusing him of emotional malfeasance. The question isn’t about when he’s coming back, where he will be if he does, or how much money they’ll give him this time.
When it comes to Tucker Carlson, the real question is this: why do we even care? That might seem like a rhetorical question, but it’s actually a really important question. And believe it or not, there is an answer.
The Answer
If you’re a businessperson, if you’re trying to sell something (like yourself), or if you’re just a 17-year-old narcissist who can’t get enough attention from actual human interaction, you know that social media is where human attention now lives. And if you’re putting your time, energy, and money into building your brand or just self-aggrandizing, you want a result. You want people to notice you, to buy from you, to like you, share you, all of that. Right? Of course you do – that’s why you’re posting in the first place. So the question begs: what do people want to consume?
Last week Bill Mahr interviewed Elon Musk. During that interview Musk provided a new clue into the human dopamine and social media connection. Being the new, “Mayor of Twitter Town” Musk should know. As it turns out, what captures our hearts, minds and attention on social media isn’t the video of your dog skydiving, a picture of your family vacation, or the latest lame meme that some dodo thought was funny. What drives engagement on social media is controversy. This isn’t a hunch or a hypothesis, it’s an answer that’s data driven. Controversy isn’t correlation, it’s causation. In other words, what pisses people off is what gets the most likes, shares, and emoji’s. And getting the most likes, shares, and emoji’s is what you said that’s what you want.
Remember?
That statement might seem the moral reverse of what it should be and maybe it is, but at the same time it makes sense. Just look at Trump. Love him or loathe him, he’s probably the most popular person in the world. Why? Because he knows how to piss people off, that’s why. When it comes to trouble and controversy, Trump is the G.O.A.T. (Greatest Of All Time). On the other side, why is Biden the most unpopular president of all times? Exactly – he doesn’t piss enough people off. Come on brother Joe, drop the aviators, and do something about the endless chip on your shoulder. Bring it on. We’ll love for you it!
Side Bar
Interestingly, as they’ve unpacked the hubbub about Tucker in the last week, the media watchers (most of whom are from the media) have a new theory about the news: in the next few years, traditional news delivery as we know it will be pretty much vanished. Why is that?
Two reasons.
1. Because we are now a la carte consumers. The most popular format on YouTube isn’t the 20 second adrenaline squirt, it’s the hour-long podcast interview. People like Joe Rogan have built huge followings that attract attention using this model. While Tucker’s competitors loathe his very existence, they still admit that he was the most watched cable newsman. Over 3 million minions tuned in every night, and it’s estimated that 10 million binged when you count the internet. A part of the reason for that is that you could get Tucker without the rest of the Fox fodder. He put out a crummy iPhone video on Twitter a few days after his firing. Over 80 million people have watched it (so far).
2. The other reason we’re dumping traditional news is a lack of trust. The pollsters report that only about 30% of us trust what we’re being told on the news. In the battle for attention we tend to silo with those with whom we agree, even when the facts are screaming at us that we’re wrong. Facts don’t matter, trust is low, and they tell us the news is “fake”. “Who are Huntley, Brinkley, Jennings, and Cronkite?”, asked the 20-something.
The Brass Ring
But let’s just pause for a moment and consider where we are. Remember when you said you wanted to get liked and shared like a virus? These days, if that’s what you want, you have to show up with two assets: you have to be brave, and you have to bring controversy. That’s what we the watchers and lurkers seem to want, or so says the Mayor of Twitter Town.
Tucker Carlson was making about $20M a year for his nightly sermons. Those sermons were packed with controversy and cemented with his often-used tag line, “that’s just the truth”. He had an offer this week for $100 million and a bunch of other perks thrown in for good measure. Somehow I think he’ll be ok.
But more than the money and controversy, it seems Tucker Carlson has won the prize that all of us are seeking on social media: attention. There is nothing in the digital space that matters more. As the world shrinks, as time goes faster, and as our attention spans become shorter, attention isn’t just everything, it’s the only thing.
Thank you for yours today.
Good luck and have a good week.
Joe Still
2023.05.07
Cite
“There’s not much downside to being rich other than paying taxes and having your relatives ask you for money. But when you become famous, you end up with a 24-hour job.”
– Bill Murray