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Messo
Messo

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The Slow Death of Authenticity in an Attention Economy

This post is admittedly a fairly negative view on the cheap things people do to get attention online.

Though I don’t fully agree, I thought it was interesting enough to hear out a viewpoint that was different than my own.

Discussion (2)

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kenshin99 profile image
Kenshin

I kind of understand where they are coming from, but authenticity was always a problem online. It wasn’t until Facebook came out that most people didn’t even use their real names. Social media perpetuates both the best and worst sides of humanity, so of course there are terrible attention seekers and likewise there are really authentic and raw personalities. Where you choose to focus your attention is up to you.

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cherri profile image
Cherri

If I wanted to get 10x more engagement than usual on a Tweet tomorrow, I could. I could post some celebratory brag about how much money I’m earning from my businesses (“omg $10k MRR!”). I could pick a fight on a topic people feel strongly about (“React sucks!”). I could mention it’s my birthday and post a picture of myself (“Can’t believe I’m 41!”).2 I could ask a question that lets people promote themselves (“What’s your favorite personal website?”), angrily quote-tweet a terrible take, and so on.

Forgive me, but why are these bad things to post? This is how humans are. And it’s not more inauthentic than forced small talk in a meeting room, or water cooler conversation, or the fake smile you put on in front of your family.