Becoming the Product: The Critical Internet Researcher as a Virtual Intellectual

nParsing digital scholarship from aesthetic branding and market-driven content, Billuart investigates the future of internet research in the digital agen nBy examining the pioneering work of early net critic Geert Lovink and the influencer-style approach of internet theorist Joshua Citarella, as well as the practices of Alex Quicho and Sophie Public, Morgane Billuart delves into the diverse strategies internet researchers adopt to share their work and sustain their careers in today's era defined by the attention economy. Charting the rise of subscription-based platforms and the increasing importance of engagement-driven metrics, she uncovers the tension between intellectual critique and the pressures of commodification. Thus Becoming the Product investigates the future of critical internet research and the sustainability of critical thinking in the digital age. nMorgane Billuart (born 1997) is an affiliated researcher at the Institute of Network Cultures and the New Center for Research and Practice. Her first book, Cycles: The Sacred and Doomed was published by Set Margins' in 2024.n