Few writers have exercised journalism's gossip muscle more than Taylor Lorenz. A prolific tech reporter who covers everything from influencers to start-ups to the ethics of taking selfies at Chernobyl, she has become one of the most prominent figures in digital journalism. Her public-facing persona has also made her more than a journalist and, in some sense a brand, a celebrity. But, as Tarpley Hitt writes in an essay found in this week’s Books & the Arts, is this not true of many prominent journalists today? Haven't Maggie Haberman, Jodi Kantor, Megan Twohey, Tom Friedman, and Bret Stephens also become personalities and celebrities in their own right? “As the news business has shrunk over the past 20 years, the work traditionally done by legacy institutions—building an audience, securing funding, promoting pieces—has fallen to the writers themselves,” Hitt writes. The subject of self-commodification now sits at the center of Lorenz’s book, Extremely Online. “A history of social media from the perspective of the poster rather than the tech executive,” as Hitt writes, Lorenz’s book “sketches the genesis of our sponsorship-saturated ecosystem, outlining the early days of platforms from YouTube, Facebook, and Tumblr to Twitter, Instagram, Vine, and TikTok.” According to Lorenz, “self-commodification online…began before contemporary social media,” but it has now pervaded almost all fields of “content” creation. A new economy arose in which people “gamified social media clout and converted it into income, often despite the hindrances of the platforms they used.” But while Lorenz celebrates this story of a new generation coming into its own, Hitt asks whether this new era of self-commodification is desirable and if it really helps level an economy cut up by class and power. “For the millions of content creators who have not reached the heights of digital celebrity,” Hitt writes, “the entrepreneurial success of the few does not” mean” stable incomes for the many.” Read “Influence and the Rise of Digital Celebrity”