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I've been reading this for the last few days, finished today. Very powerful ideas, impressive writing, inspired and sparked new thoughts in my mind every readi

by soneca 8y ago

I've been reading this for the last few days, finished today. Very powerful ideas, impressive writing, inspired and sparked new thoughts in my mind every reading moment. One thing that is mentioned en passant that I would like to know the author's opinion about: if seeking status is so important for these tools growth, what drives the majority of lurkers that are the majority of said growth? I imagine it is entertainment, the third axis that the author chose not to dive in. But he has such interesting insights that I would love to read a follow-up essay on what drives the "status-giving monkeys".

pcmaffey 8y ago
> what drives the majority of lurkers that are the majority of said growth? I'd argue its at least partly education. People not yet confident or committed enough to pursue status seeking activities watching and learning from others to explore their interests...
cabalamat 8y ago
> inspired and sparked new thoughts in my mind every reading moment That's my experience too. It probably helps that I'm building a social networking website[1] right now. This article would probably benefit from being re-read at intervals for new insights. [1] MeowCat: https://github.com/cabalamat/meowcat2 https://github.com/cabalamat/meowcat2
- mmmeff 8y ago
  > 0 stars Do you even status bro?
akdas 8y ago
> what drives the majority of lurkers that are the majority of said growth? Not the author, but my take on it: since status is a scarce resource, the majority of people are not able or willing to put in the work to acquire status. Instead, they live vicariously through the status of others.
nzs0 8y ago
> what drives the majority of lurkers that are the majority of said growth? It would be interesting to see what the demographics of lurkers are. Are these mostly older people who are not so enthralled with seeking status via likes/followers but still want to be able to minimally participate? I'd also be curious to know if the propensity to be a lurker is dependent on the platform - i.e. the work to gain status is too high for some platforms, but not for others - or if some people are generally more likely to be lurkers on all platforms.

by soneca 8y ago

pcmaffey 8y ago

> what drives the majority of lurkers that are the majority of said growth? I'd argue its at least partly education. People not yet confident or committed enough to pursue status seeking activities watching and learning from others to explore their interests...

cabalamat 8y ago

> inspired and sparked new thoughts in my mind every reading moment That's my experience too. It probably helps that I'm building a social networking website[1] right now. This article would probably benefit from being re-read at intervals for new insights. [1] MeowCat: https://github.com/cabalamat/meowcat2 https://github.com/cabalamat/meowcat2

mmmeff 8y ago
> 0 stars Do you even status bro?

akdas 8y ago

> what drives the majority of lurkers that are the majority of said growth? Not the author, but my take on it: since status is a scarce resource, the majority of people are not able or willing to put in the work to acquire status. Instead, they live vicariously through the status of others.

nzs0 8y ago

> what drives the majority of lurkers that are the majority of said growth? It would be interesting to see what the demographics of lurkers are. Are these mostly older people who are not so enthralled with seeking status via likes/followers but still want to be able to minimally participate? I'd also be curious to know if the propensity to be a lurker is dependent on the platform - i.e. the work to gain status is too high for some platforms, but not for others - or if some people are generally more likely to be lurkers on all platforms.