The future of social media: the depreciation of appreciation
In the grand scheme of things, appreciation in the digital age has become lazy. It has. You now don’t need to write a few words in response to a funny or interesting status on Facebook, you simply ‘like’ it, and go about your business. It’s the same with Tumblr and the re-blog, and Twitter and the retweet. It’s that non-committal pat on the back, which you’re able to dispense at the touch of a button and be done with it – dialogue is dead, and it’s the year of depreciated appreciation. (Well, not entirely, but you get my point.)
Having just read up on Daps’em, a platform for appreciation, it got me thinking about how appreciation is affecting dialogue in the digital age. When on Facebook now, I find myself ‘liking’ more and commenting far less, because a ‘like’ takes a second, whereas a comment takes longer, and involves some active thought. (With a comment, you’re also now required to write something so spectacular, that it, too, can score a ‘like’ – nobody is safe.)
With this structure in place, appreciation has become autonomous, and for me, has lost its value. Before the ‘like’ button appeared, Facebook required you to actively participate in a conversation, and in turn stimulated dialogue. Applying the new structure to real life dialogue, it would be like your friend saying something and you thumbs-upping them, and walking off. Can you imagine how awkward a phone call would be?
It’s this type of depreciated appreciation, which is coming to the forefront of almost all social platforms, and it’s really affecting dialogue – and even the way we interact with our friends. In a world where social media is a prominent fixture in the majority of lives, it’s something that needs to adjust, as this ‘social’ media is becoming progressively anti-social.
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I reckons that ‘like’ vs ‘comment’ is much like the old 90% observer, 9% contributor, 1% creator debate of yore. Not everyone is a ‘commenter’ – but ‘like’ is the low-barrier participator facilitator that helps get a few more folk over the fence.
In simple terms, ‘Like’ is to ‘comment’ as a spliff is to a full blown crack addiction (at least according to that chap who ran the ‘don’t do drugs’ talk at my school).
I disagree. I don’t think “dialogue is dead”. Thanks to social media i can comment on status from friends on the other side of the planet. I do like more than i comment, which doesn’t mean that i don’t engage in conversations. The Like has become a symbole of appreciation – so much so that awkwardly i sometimes do the thumb up to express my liking. Yes, because more and more friends have more and more status updates, i cannot comment each one. It’s mathematically impossible. But does it mean that i don’t appreciate them? If so, i wouldn’t have them on my network sharing my life with them.
I’ve given up on likes because they feel so trivial. I comment very little, but it’s the only real action my Facebook gets.
I was about to click to ‘like’ button for this post, then reconsidered.