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I think that's false. Humans are social, but that means social activity is rewarding. You can build a Skinner box out of "social" rewards just like you can bu

I think that's false. Humans are social, but that means social activity is rewarding. You can build a Skinner box out of "social" rewards just like you can build one out of money rewards (e.g. slot machines). Success for a social network is not "people feeling better on average" it's people coming back more often on average. Their actual level of enjoyment or well-being is irrelevant to the platform.

philipodonnell 9y ago
I would argue that feelings of well-being are not just irrelevant, they are actually directly contrary to the goals of our current advertising-driven social networks. Happy contented people aren't as influenced by advertising intended to capitalize on insecurities, which is really most of it. A social network's ideal audience would be a group of people who are relatively discontent with their lives and provide a series of small improvements to that state of being, but ones that quickly fade, and then encourage them to repeat that cycle as often as possible. That way the susceptibility to advertising remains high and boosts advertiser ROI, which raises the social network's value as a platform. Come to think of it, that sounds pretty familiar.
- Chaebixi 9y ago
  > Come to think of it, that sounds pretty familiar. I've never used Instagram much, but that sounds like one aspect of that network I've read about. Everyone curates their profile to make their lives seem more fun and more interesting than they really are, often with a materialist angle. The real you looks inadequate compared to these false lives, leaving many feeling insecure about themselves. Then you have professional "influencers" with hyper-curated profiles that depict a fantastically fun and fashionable life. They make money by shilling products that subtly promise to let you join in on that lifestyle, if you only buy.
  - philipodonnell 9y ago
    Insecurity has always been a strong undercurrent in advertising. Anytime you see a picture of someone looking happy or having fun with a product, that's a tiny dig at your insecurities that maybe you aren't having as much fun as you could with that product. Its just that, Instagram especially because of the power of an image, its like not only did they set out to create a platform to maximize your insecurity, they recruited thousands of people and gave them a special title ("influencer") and pay them to amplify that message as loudly as possible, then bake in the same addictive interactions as Facebook, and then monetized the whole thing. Its not to say that its always bad and should be shut down, just be aware of the effects it can have and be honest about how you react to them.

philipodonnell 9y ago

I would argue that feelings of well-being are not just irrelevant, they are actually directly contrary to the goals of our current advertising-driven social networks. Happy contented people aren't as influenced by advertising intended to capitalize on insecurities, which is really most of it. A social network's ideal audience would be a group of people who are relatively discontent with their lives and provide a series of small improvements to that state of being, but ones that quickly fade, and then encourage them to repeat that cycle as often as possible. That way the susceptibility to advertising remains high and boosts advertiser ROI, which raises the social network's value as a platform. Come to think of it, that sounds pretty familiar.

Chaebixi 9y ago
> Come to think of it, that sounds pretty familiar. I've never used Instagram much, but that sounds like one aspect of that network I've read about. Everyone curates their profile to make their lives seem more fun and more interesting than they really are, often with a materialist angle. The real you looks inadequate compared to these false lives, leaving many feeling insecure about themselves. Then you have professional "influencers" with hyper-curated profiles that depict a fantastically fun and fashionable life. They make money by shilling products that subtly promise to let you join in on that lifestyle, if you only buy.
- philipodonnell 9y ago
  Insecurity has always been a strong undercurrent in advertising. Anytime you see a picture of someone looking happy or having fun with a product, that's a tiny dig at your insecurities that maybe you aren't having as much fun as you could with that product. Its just that, Instagram especially because of the power of an image, its like not only did they set out to create a platform to maximize your insecurity, they recruited thousands of people and gave them a special title ("influencer") and pay them to amplify that message as loudly as possible, then bake in the same addictive interactions as Facebook, and then monetized the whole thing. Its not to say that its always bad and should be shut down, just be aware of the effects it can have and be honest about how you react to them.