Relationship Inflation

Umair Haque wechselt mal kurz sein Leitthema und analysiert die Ökonomie der sozial medial vermittelten Beziehungen, u.a.:

What are the wages of relationship inflation? Three cancers eating away at the vitality of today’s web. First, attention isn’t allocated efficiently; people discover less what they value than what everyone else likes, right this second. Second, people invest in low-quality content. Farmville ain’t exactly Casablanca. Third, and most damaging, is the ongoing weakening of the Internet as a force for good.
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Let’s summarize. On the demand side, relationship inflation creates beauty contest effects, where, just as every judge votes for the contestant they think the others will like the best, people transmit what they think others want. On the supply side, relationship inflation creates popularity contest effects, where people (and artists) strive for immediate, visceral attention-grabs — instead of making awesome stuff.

(einige gute achsen, aber teilweise ist die symptombeschreibung treffender als die analyse.)