Socializing Media....

As facebook itself has been thrust into the news because of the actions of a few I thought I would turn the spotlight on the medium itself for a change and try to understand what social media means and why it still 'works' as an application.

In the internet age content is king as without it the screen would be blank. Social media is predicated on the concept that we are all either exhibitionists, stalkers, commenters or a combination of the above, and the interplay between these personality traits is the deep end of the pool. The 'other' posts like activists efforts and outright commerce makes up less than one percent of the posts on the average wall, leaving the rest of the reality of social media ripe for warping and outright perversion.

Exhibitionists:

We all have a deep desire to be noticed and loved, but exhibitionists have it bad. Most people lean towards the trait they are most recognized and rewarded for, and in the world of genital based personalities those of us still blessed with sexually attractive attributes put it out there front and center along with our opinions on the whales, the turtles and the planet as a whole. While we may think that our forty eight hundred 'friends' are there to exchange ideas on the plight of the tidal pools, if we were to be honest forty seven hundred and fifty of them are stalkers there to enjoy our 'me and the girls doing shots in Cancun' pics. Trying to have topical and serious conversations with a profile pic in a bikini suggestively twirling her hair in the 'naughty girl' look is a contradiction to nature and at some point will be discovered to be the basis for some of the silly life decisions being made. That most pretty girls are not intelligent enough to see that they are actually being served up as a 'breast and butt' entree makes the thing work as intelligent women do not waste their money buying designer or designer knock off appendages to promote their assets, nor do they base their self worth on the amount of people who want to oogle their offerings.

Stalkers:

These are the opposite of exhibitionists as they do not believe themselves attractive enough to put their 'stuff' out there, so their profile is usually something that suggests that they are either daring, progressive or thinking, none of which will help them get sex, so they have no choice but to 'friend' those who can. Nothing like a little spill over joy juice, and this is the main reason fat girls tolerate skinny ones. Male stalkers are even worse as they accept early on that the only sex they are ever likely to have (despite what the nerd movies tell them) are the weak ones they separate from the pack, so they work hard at amassing items of interests to encourage others to look at them. BMW understands this concept better than most, but many manufacturers build product messages around the concept that 'it might get you laid.' This is why attractive people generally do not own or collect anything, they don't need to. Stalkers on facebook friend others with fake names and faker profile pictures and usually add exhibitionists as friends, which in a testimony to irony completes the life cycle and fulfills the core needs of both groups.

Commenters:

By far the largest group on facebook, commenters can be made up of people who seek out content to post, look for already posted content to argue with, or have an agenda to promote so regardless of the topic their job is to direct it towards their idea. Commenters in the main are broken up into three groups -Recalcitrant intelligentsia, trolls and aloof commenters.

- The recalcitrant intelligentsia are those who are 'uber' intelligent on many topics and are more than willing to let you know but not to engage you. Their job is to 'model' their knowledge down the facebook catwalk and then fade as you and others come to terms with their brilliance. Fawning is encouraged and these people's friends are made up of fans and willing ego inflaters.

- Trolls are the worst part of social interaction as they make most conversations uncomfortable. They attack those who do not agree with their position or who promote a position opposite to the one they support, they hijack the thread in abusive ways to derail the conversation and are willing to irritate other contributors to the point of exasperation so that they give up on the whole exercise.

- Aloof commenters are similar to the recalcitrant intelligentsia except they do not have their own original contributions to offer but rely rather on picking everyone else's apart. They base their support on a cult of similar personalities so it is not uncommon to see them and the same four or five followers enjoying each others company and opinions on multiple topics in full agreement with each other having a laugh at everyone else. These people go on to become columnists as nothing sells like dissent. As they agree with nobody and think themselves entitled to it people lap it up. I always wonder what happens to people like these when the societies they could have helped save collapses, do they become victims of the collapse or do they escape and run away to pontificate another day? Do they at any point develop anything like situational awareness or are they doomed by their own sense of irony to the very end?

As it is still referred to as an experiment almost ten years in, social media is affecting the way we communicate by herding us into groups and exploiting us and like everything else that runs unchecked in society it is becoming the lowest version of itself. If content is king and we generate content, then it is fair to ask if this is an accurate representation of us or is it in fact making a mockery of us?

I don't know. As someone who is heavily involved in content I hope to survive the experiment that is social media, and I think step one is awareness; understanding what it is we are really about here and constantly striving for the high ground.

I am sharing this on Facebook, you decide for yourself what that means...