Those who successfully curate an aura of mystique via social media, I would argue (today anyway…this is an opinion that very well may change) enjoy a superior relationship to the networks. Sharing more directly feeds the Ego, though socialized responses to “content” will alter the reaction. And sharing and mystique have an inverse relationship. gain a following) you must share and share and share. But mystique on social media runs counter to popularity (for most people who don’t gain celebrity or notoriety from sources completely outside of social media). That’s why I think a social platform without the follower system could be so interesting.Īs for the other portion of the balance, mystique can breed popularity in certain circles. Number and ratios of followers, likes, and comments categorize succinctly one’s popularity. At the pinnacle of popularity, one is entirely alone, and at that point, what is the point, really? Popularity on social media is perceived numerically. This demands a push-pull between an in-group and and out-group. Of course, we desire to be popular, but one can’t really be popular without being thought of as popular. That said, here’s the dovetail between my experience and the psychoanalytic reading of social media put forth by Richard Seymour: Social Media balances always on a fine thread between privacy and publicity (or, to put it into more social terms, mystique and popularity). Marie Kondo’s The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up or Tim Ferriss’ Tools of Titans for instance, could never convince me to acquiesce to their particular dogma.
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I actually decided to do that before I read this week’s Long Read, a review of Richard Seymour’s The Twittering Machine, and to be frank, I don’t think reading the review would have prompted me to deactivate if I hadn’t already been of the mind to do so.Īs with many books of The Twittering Machine’s ilk, I don’t often find myself convinced to make a major life change because of them. I’m taking a break from Instagram this week.