I’ve done a quick survey to back this up, and 100% of almost 10 respondents admitted to having lied about this exact thing.
You know how it is, someone asks if you’ve seen THAT THING. And although you haven’t ACTUALLY seen it. You’re pretty sure you know exactly what it is. You understand the context. The URL gives part of the game away. You’ve seen how 20 people you know and trust react to it on Twitter. And you’re smart enough to join the gaps and probably fend off a bit of light questioning about the thing. So you confidently say, “oh yeah I’ve seen it”. Or slightly less confidently: “I think I’ve seen it”. Knowing that if they ask a question you can always back off a little bit and say – “oh, I’m not sure I saw that bit”. Or – “oh, that’s not the thing I was thinking of” it must be something a bit like it. It got me wondering. Are we going to reach a point where we actually have to make anything anymore? Or can we just create a sense that it exists, and a feeling that it’s good, and ultimately manipulate people via social media to believe that they’ve seen it. Oh yeah it’s like that emperor chap and his new clothes. I wish I was slightly darker and slightly more manipulative, there’s a really interesting experiment in there somewhere…
the truth about social media: https://www.crackunit.com/2010/01/19/the-brutal-truth-no-one-actually-clicks-your-stupid-links/
you mean you’re still making stuff??
catch up, dude.
meh – you mean it’s not about the stuff but about the conversation? Who would have thought it…
It goes beyond social sharing, “Report: 44% Of Google News Visitors Scan Headlines, Don’t Click Through” http://www.techcrunch.com/2010/01/19/outsell-google-news/
Aaaah lovely conversations. Pointless, meaningless, directionless conversations ;-)
LOL! I’m totally guilty of this.
I fear that one day I’m going to end up RT’ing a link to some KKK child porn site merely out reflex at seeing it labeled “Cute Cat Playing Piano Video”.
I knew you were going to write that…