9 ms·

Bribing your way into an elite college costs a lot more than $20/month, though. As a society, we also confer prestige on a lot of things that basically amount

by giaour 4y ago

Bribing your way into an elite college costs a lot more than $20/month, though. As a society, we also confer prestige on a lot of things that basically amount to spending a prohibitively large sum of money: running a foundation; being an angel investor; owning a sports team, champion racehorse, Lamborghini, etc. But if just anybody can afford something and the only barrier to entry is cost, then it has no social currency.

usrusr 4y ago
There are plenty of goods that work essentially like veblen goods but that are not really out of reach for anybody who is a non-zero amount of disposable beyond starvation. Converse shoes, Ray Ban shades, there's an endless list of brands that people pay a premium for to show off, despite not containing even the tiniest trace of that exclusivity that stems from being prohibitively expensive.
- giaour 4y ago
  The last clause in your comment is doing a lot of work. Prohibitive cost is only one form of exclusivity, but there are many others. For example, Twitter’s blue checks are free today but difficult to obtain. It sounds like Twitter is looking to replace the current system of exclusivity with one based on cost, and $20/month just isn’t very exclusive.
cma 4y ago
> Bribing your way into an elite college costs a lot more than $20/month, though. So will the checkmark once they price discriminate on wealth or follower count.
- giaour 4y ago
  I just don’t see how that’s workable as a business strategy. If Twitter charges you for a blue check, the social value of the mark will go down. If they simultaneously charge higher prices based on the wealth of the subscriber, that’s asking wealthy tweeters for a lot of money for something whose value has been significantly diluted.
  - cma 4y ago
    It depends on if they still have the notability requirement; if they just charge $20 and anyone can get it then it definitely devalues the whole thing (the whole value of the mark other than as a signal is access to DM other notable people; if anyone can pay $20 to DM celebrities and stuff celebrities will turn off blue check mark DMs or if there is no option just ignore DMs entirely, which then kills the journalism loop on Twitter where journalists get access to celebrities, politicians, etc. by having the mark).

by giaour 4y ago

usrusr 4y ago

There are plenty of goods that work essentially like veblen goods but that are not really out of reach for anybody who is a non-zero amount of disposable beyond starvation. Converse shoes, Ray Ban shades, there's an endless list of brands that people pay a premium for to show off, despite not containing even the tiniest trace of that exclusivity that stems from being prohibitively expensive.

giaour 4y ago
The last clause in your comment is doing a lot of work. Prohibitive cost is only one form of exclusivity, but there are many others. For example, Twitter’s blue checks are free today but difficult to obtain. It sounds like Twitter is looking to replace the current system of exclusivity with one based on cost, and $20/month just isn’t very exclusive.

cma 4y ago

> Bribing your way into an elite college costs a lot more than $20/month, though. So will the checkmark once they price discriminate on wealth or follower count.

giaour 4y ago
I just don’t see how that’s workable as a business strategy. If Twitter charges you for a blue check, the social value of the mark will go down. If they simultaneously charge higher prices based on the wealth of the subscriber, that’s asking wealthy tweeters for a lot of money for something whose value has been significantly diluted.
- cma 4y ago
  It depends on if they still have the notability requirement; if they just charge $20 and anyone can get it then it definitely devalues the whole thing (the whole value of the mark other than as a signal is access to DM other notable people; if anyone can pay $20 to DM celebrities and stuff celebrities will turn off blue check mark DMs or if there is no option just ignore DMs entirely, which then kills the journalism loop on Twitter where journalists get access to celebrities, politicians, etc. by having the mark).