INGLEWOOD, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 14: Rapper Kanye West performs onstage during the "Vultures 1" ... [+] playback concert during Rolling Loud 2024 the at Hollywood Park Grounds on March 14, 2024 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Scott Dudelson/Getty Images)Getty ImagesKanye West is at it again. Since his appearance at the Grammys last Sunday, the rapperwho now goes by Yehas been wreaking havoc across social media, picking up petty squabbles on Instagram and spewing nonsense on X.Thats nothing new for West, but it yet again underscores the ugliest facets of the attention economy and the social media outrage machine.Feeding The Outrage MachineIt all began last Sunday at the Grammys where West was accompanied by his wife Bianca Censori, who wore a provocative see-through dress which made her appear almost completely nude.The dress instantly became the talk of the townand the internet hasnt been able to stop yapping about it. Indeed, West was particularly proud of that, claiming in a post on Instagram that Censori was the most Googled person at the awards.The claim is dubious, but thats besides the point. In the attention economy, all that matters is that people talk about itand West has been a master of feeding the outrage machine. Hes not the only one either.Rage-baitingputting out intentionally incendiary content to drive engagementhas turned into a common social media growth hacking tactic for a slew of content creators in recent years.MORE FOR YOUWest is symptomatic of the dangers of the social media outrage machine. Over the past couple of days, the rapper has been calling for the release of Sean Diddy Combswhos currently facing sex trafficking chargesfrom federal prison, ranting about how Jewish people cant be trusted and praising Hitler.Wests bizarre comments have drawn considerable amount of pushback, including a condemnation from the American Jewish Committee calling on the entertainment industry to disavow the rapper for his blatant hatred.Still, Wests incendiary posts have attracted millions of views across social media platforms, with multiple aggregation accounts reposting them to further farm engagement.The rappers unending tiradesranging from digs at comedian Dave Chappelle to insults aimed at former assistant suing him for sexual harassmenthave also inspired a stream of memes, one of which was reposted by Elon Musk himself.The Vicious Cycle Of The Attention EconomyThats where the problem with the attention economy lies. Outrage drives engagement, but engagement commands attentionand when attention is the currency, outrage becomes the fuel that keeps the attention economy going.Thats not to say that outrage cant be the catalyst for important conversations. It certainly can and does. But for every nuanced conversation, theres a current of forgettable gibberish designed solely with the purpose of driving engagement.Few of these conversations leave lasting impact. Instead, we harp on the next outrageous thing and simply move on.Then rinse and repeatand the outrage machine keeps spinning.