Did Horse_ebooks Show Us that SPAM is the Web's Native Artform - Essay Example

Is Spam the Internet’s Native Art Form? Posted on YouTube on October 16, by PBS Idea Channel, narrator Mike Rugnettadiscusses how vital it is for numerous people to mentally relate to or take pleasure in computer-simulated personalities. While focusing on twitter account @Horse_ebooks, the video shows how the spam based character gained popularity on social media and gradually lost it after the realization of its true operator. The video’s key premise is to outline the history and facts revolving around Horse_ebooks to help viewers deduce whether spam is the internet’s indigenous form of art (PBS Idea Channel 2014).

Based on the arguments and facts presented by the video, I agree that spam is the native form of art for the internet. Spam remains a native form of art for internet users because they always seem to surrender to banner ads. The lengthy period spam has been on the internet would cause one to argue that users are used to and aware of spam by just looking at it. However, despite this knowledge, internet users seem unable to resist clicking on spam posing as banner ads. As a result, online and blog marketers continue using spam as an advertising tool because of its effectiveness and seemingly captivating nature (PBS Idea Channel 2014).

At the same time, there are millions of new internet users daily. Arguably, these users are obviously unaware of spam and its potential effect on private accounts. Eventually, new users will further this native form of art because of their unawareness and marketers will continue using it so long as it is effective. Operating as a spambot, Horse_ebooks is an excellent example of the reaches AI (artificial intelligence) can reach when applied as a marketing tool. According to Rugnetta, Horse_ebooks was an “algorithmic assembled poetry,” which acted as the essence of the bot (PBS Idea Channel 2014).

This definition explains why Horse_ebooks’ admirers and twitter followers found its posts intriguing and even poignant. Knowing that a machine operated the account compelled people to expect posts about ad links, meaningless statements, and often irritating news or products and services. However, Horse_ebooks’ posts were a depiction of advanced AI’s ability to communicate and interact in an almost human way. This ability was the source of people’s connection with the bot, as well as the operator’s initial intent of using it as a marketing tool.

Like any other type of community, the internet aggressively searches for its native forms of art and spam is the best example and “candidate” (PBS Idea Channel 2014). Computer generated spam enable internet users to see its content independently. From this perspective, spam functioning as a native form of art for the internet depends with the its type. Art enthusiasts contend that true art comes from the work’s form and not function. Horse_ebooks’ form of art is agent-oriented, a fact that many supporters did not know until recently.

Afterwards, Horse_ebooks inherited a function to advance its intent amongst internet users and slowly lost popularity as a form of art. Internet users felt cheated out of a socio-cultural art experience, which is apparently annoying. Nonetheless, Horse_ebooks remains an example of a new narrative hidden behind an old form of art, spam, which additionally encourages and captures the concept of “attention economy” across the internet (PBS Idea Channel 2014).Works CitedPBS Idea Channel. Did Horse_ebooks Show Us that SPAM is the Webs Native Artform?

| Idea Channel | PBS Digital Studios. 2014. Web. YouTube. 2014, Nov. 28.