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Is 'Like' incl. 'Upvotes' etc. the most impactful feature on the web i.e in terms of influencing human behaviour? Since 'Like' and its likes(pun intended) rele

Is 'Like' incl. 'Upvotes' etc. the most impactful feature on the web i.e in terms of influencing human behaviour? Since 'Like' and its likes(pun intended) releases dopamine & the incentive keeps one addicted; it became the foundation of these social networks. Unlike actual real relationships, positive feedback from these social networks gives instant gratification without strings attached(at-least seems like that), making them more preferable. It has become the social currency. Incentives are necessary for retaining users, but hypothetically if all social networks decide to do away with 'Like' system for the sake of mental health, what can be the alternative?

Nextgrid 8y ago
Upvotes or likes per-se aren't a bad idea, they can be used to reward what the community defines as good behaviour and filter out bad content (clickbait, etc). It seems to work pretty well on HN or Reddit for example. The problem arises when there is no longer a clear definition of what should warrant a like, so the number looses its utility as a quality metric, and from there everything breaks loose especially if the automated curation uses the likes counter as a signal. > Incentives are necessary for retaining users Facebook didn't have likes in the beginning and it didn't prevent them from growing. Maybe the incentive should be quality, relevant content and meaningful conversations with your friends?
- Abishek_Muthian 8y ago
  > It seems to work pretty well on HN or Reddit Perhaps it is because of the downvotes? >Facebook didn't have likes in the beginning and it didn't prevent them from growing. Yes I agree, they have been growing steadily after introducing 'Like', guess we'll never know how much impact 'Like' would have made if Facebook didn't introduce them and if other social networks social networks had them.

Nextgrid 8y ago

Upvotes or likes per-se aren't a bad idea, they can be used to reward what the community defines as good behaviour and filter out bad content (clickbait, etc). It seems to work pretty well on HN or Reddit for example. The problem arises when there is no longer a clear definition of what should warrant a like, so the number looses its utility as a quality metric, and from there everything breaks loose especially if the automated curation uses the likes counter as a signal. > Incentives are necessary for retaining users Facebook didn't have likes in the beginning and it didn't prevent them from growing. Maybe the incentive should be quality, relevant content and meaningful conversations with your friends?

Abishek_Muthian 8y ago
> It seems to work pretty well on HN or Reddit Perhaps it is because of the downvotes? >Facebook didn't have likes in the beginning and it didn't prevent them from growing. Yes I agree, they have been growing steadily after introducing 'Like', guess we'll never know how much impact 'Like' would have made if Facebook didn't introduce them and if other social networks social networks had them.