[lbo-talk] Twitter: >40% pointless babble

Wojtek Sokolowski swsokolowski at yahoo.com
Thu Aug 13 10:39:25 PDT 2009


--- On Thu, 8/13/09, Michael Pollak <mpollak at panix.com> wrote:


> I'm of your generation so I share your perspective and
> reactions, but just to be a devil's advocate, can't this
> sort of thing be interpreted as phatic?  As a kind of
> social lice picking where the point is simply to feel in
> contact?  The gestures are empty precisely because they
> are simply acting out, and feeling the pleasure of, being
> part of a group?

[WS:} I have a strong aversion to "corporate cool" or commercial products marketed as symbols of social status and desirability (mobile phones, ipods, sneakers, texting etc.) so my opinion on the subject is obviously biased.

However, I see a major difference between participatory social networks (i.e. people meeting face to face) and virtual networks. The former are information rich (i.e people communicate on many different levels) considerably lower barriers for engagement in other types of action (e.g. people chit chatting in a coffee shop and then deciding to do something else together.) The latter are information poor (just text) and increase rather than lower barriers for other engagement (i.e. when I am online I am not likely to do something else).

In other words, it is like making love and jacking off - both are sexual acts, but the latter is merely a poor ersatz of the former.

Wojtek



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