2021-05-30
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I happened across quite an insightful blog post trilogy about 
social media. It's a long, but a rewarding read.

https://emperorponders.blog/2021/05/16/everything-is-social-part-i/
https://emperorponders.blog/2021/05/19/everything-is-social-part-ii/
https://emperorponders.blog/2021/05/22/everything-is-social-iii/

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Here's a quote:

When you look back with nostalgia to past entertainment or
communities, it's not just because things were better back then. 
Indeed, many were much better but, granted, a lot was garbage too.
Yet even things that now are objectively good seem tainted somehow,
lacking in spirit or authenticity. That can be quite literal as 
the product might have been designed by marketing studies chasing 
trends and fads. But the taint also comes from the Community, 
the Commentators, and (some) Content Creators.

Your nostalgia is for a different kind of social and
psychological context, one with fewer mediators, where marketing 
forces were hidden rather than in your face and disguised as 
organic fan engagement. You look back with fondness for a time 
where the 'community' just your friends, a couple of magazines
you read, and perhaps the letters you sent to those magazines;
when there was no Community in the modern sense, no constant
self-branding, hustling, and grifting, nor any need to manage 
or engage with the Community or with its myriad of gatekeepers,
corporate influencers, and 'conversations'. You look back,
ironically, to a time when you could be left alone, when 
the distinction between consumer and producer was clear, when not 
every little act, behavior, or idea was social, and, therefore,
observed and ranked, a social pattern that benefits sociopathic 
individuals.

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