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Becoming the Product: The Critical Internet Researcher as a Virtual Intellectual
Individual
critical
In Becoming the Product Morgane Billuart traces the evolution of critical internet research, examining the work of figures such as Geert Lovink, Joshua Citarella, Alex Quicho and Sophie Public. Exploring how researchers navigate the demands of the attention economy, the book reflects on the tension between critique and commodification as it traces the shifting strategies of critical research under pressure to perform, produce and build a brand. What happens to critique when intellectual labour becomes part of the content economy? What does it mean to think critically and sustainably online?
Through her own practice, Morgane’s inquiry blurs the line between critique and performance. By hosting two podcasts and maintaining a presence across multiple platforms, including Substack, Instagram and YouTube, she doesn’t just study the dynamics of online visibility — she embodies them.
Her tone shifts from theoretical to personal, revealing a methodological agility attuned to platform aesthetics. By tapping into the systems she critiques, Morgane challenges the divide between observer and participant, and between content and critique. Rather than resolving this tension, her work inhabits it, showcasing the messy, strategic entanglement of intellectual labour and platform capitalism. This is a form of research that is experienced and performed as much as it is written: a vulnerable and incisive mode of enquiry that is shaped from within the infrastructures it studies.
02.09.25