Likes, shares, retweets, karma, points, subscriptions, pins
There are a lot of different ways to quantify internet success and popularity. Every time I think of the internet and how our culture quantifies popularity, I think of one of my favorite casual watching shows, “Whose line is it anyways?”
Every episode, Drew Carrey would open the show with the tagline,
“Welcome to the show where everything’s made up and the points don’t matter.”
That show was really fun and entertaining to me, and I think their concept is part of the draw of social media. Almost everything (or almost everything) is made up and none of the points matter. So mentally, there’s no consequence. It’s a risk-free trial to the good life.
Yet, we place a lot of value on those internet points, and why shouldn’t we? Everybody wants to be part of the cool kid group, wants to be included. And what better way to be included than by doing nothing but laying in bed at 3 pm, flicking your thumb across your phone?
Social media is fun, everyone’s on it, and it’s easy. It’s so easy to get involved that it’s slowly and seamlessly embedded itself and evolved into an essential part of our everyday personal and professional lives.
Almost everybody likes to be in the know. And when you can engage in social media and be part of this conversation across cultures, genders, ages and geographic divides, you feel cool (from a tech achievement, it is cool). You feel like you’re at the popular table at your high school cafeteria. For some, that’s the norm, for others, it’s a dream come true. Social media is a true social equalizer, and that statement alone is intoxicating to some.
Have you ever dreamed about having superpowers? Maybe even the power to stop time?To go back and fix mistakes, change what you said to your crush that one time, review what you want to say before you say it? Social media has the ability to let you do a lot of that.
It’s life, filtered and screened, and gives people the chance to put their best foot forward (or worst, depending on who you follow). Social media in some senses, has evolved into a competition of “who is the best at public relations”, and fake internet points is how we see who is winning.
But for every chance it gives people to put their best food forward and filter themselves, that buffer also absolves people of some of the personal responsibility that comes with social interaction on a more sinister side. And as much as everyone loves to show off the best parts of their lives, everybody also loves drama, and being able to judge on the less desirable aspects of society.
It’s undeniable that a large part of social media’s growth is being able to sit in the digital crowd-stands and eat popcorn while they watch their second-cousin duke it out with their extremist aunt about whose dog is cutest on Facebook. Negativity and drama can (and do) run rampant on social media, some people even make a profit on selling it and marketing it. Facebook has even expanded their comment reactions from simple “likes” to sad and angry faces. Reddit has entire sub-reddits dedicated to things like calling people out on bullshit, or examples of internet justice.
And because anyone can watch like an anonymous voyeur (but not in a creepy way), people are much less likely to stop it. I could go on a rant and go deeper down the rabbit hole of cyber-bullying, but that’s a topic for another time.
My point here is this:
Social media is just as popular for it’s negative aspects as it is for it’s positive aspects. And because people aren’t trading physical blows, it’s easy to to hide from the confrontation of an unpopular opinion or statement.
And what’s one way to promote these positive and negative experiences than by “smashing that like button”? Or “upvoting something to the front page” or “retweeting” it?
As made up as fake internet points are; when people put value in it, businesses put value in it. Imagined currency becomes real currency and social gatherings become social marketplaces.
With digital convergence comes cultural convergence; businesses and marketplaces are always trying to find ways to inject their values and their products into our everyday interactions.
And why shouldn’t they? It’s smart, it’s quick and it’s effective. And it’s not necessarily a bad thing either.
Social media has become the next platform of social interaction.
It’s become the modern equivalent of walking around your neighborhood; and just like businesses put up flyers and billboards, companies put pop-up and video ads into your newsfeeds. Everyone on social media is trying to “buy” your attention, and the method of payment is your click of a button on whatever quantifiable action the site encourages.
Those fake numbers are what people use to tell you:
“HEY…THIS is worth your time.”
Gone are the days of simple AIM, Yahoo or ICQ chats between friends and strangers. To a certain extent, we no longer want that. Social media has grown to become something much more than just a way for people to connect with each other.
It’s become a gathering place. It’s become the local tavern for our digital lives, letting us meet up with friends and strangers alike to take one of the many paths into the internet dungeon for a chance to collect some of that sweet, sweet internet treasure.
It’s made us the judges of our own worlds, and the worlds of others, letting us raise and lower the best informal PR people around us to great heights or deep lows.
That’s a lot power for any one person. And what would Uncle Ben think of that?
This is Kip. See Kip Blog. 