Your followers and you - a new chapter

According to an article published in today's New York Times,  a number of companies are busy analysing and rating millions upon millions of Twitter, Facebook and other "social networks" users, in order to determine - or rather, establish - their social influence. In other words, not only will they be counting the number of your "friends" and "followers", but also examining what can you make them do. Then they will score you. And then they will publish their scores. Online.


I can literally hear the stampede of millions of feet - or rather, fingers - rushing over keyboards, to make hay, as much of it as humanly possible, as quickly as inhumanly made possible by their overtaxed computers.


It will be interesting to see how much genuine communication - and how quickly - this latest rating competition will erode. Or rather, it would be interesting. I don't have a Twitter or a Facebook account, and I do not foresee having any such inclinations in the near or distant future. And yes, I know you can read messages on both even without having an account, but I am not that interested in pursuing this particular line of research. Besides, I am sure there is some PhD thesis on the subject being hatched as we speak.


What could possibly the purpose of such rating be? 
Duh - money, what else?
The only other - theoretical - option I can think of would be to destroy the influence of Twitter, Facebook & Co. A very cunning and daringly surreptitious plan. 


Unfortunately, there is little space for such subtleties in the online global community. The "social networks" seem to be actively populated mostly by adolescent-minded people - and adolescents are typically very mindful of other people's opinions. In fact, few matrons or grandpas are as conservative and conventional in their mindset as the average teenager.


Still, there is no reason for you to have other people's standards imposed on you. There is always an elegant solution to every predicament. This case is no exception.
And you know what the solution is.




29. VI. 2011
EDIT to add this hilarious video:

The Internet Personality Disorder