⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Year in 5
Hi hi good morning! I thought this was terrific writing to start the day with:
Saved on my phone is a photo that is one of my most treasured possessions. Whenever I need to laugh, or to take a load off and just reflect on what kind of a place this life is, and there is nothing in my immediate physical vicinity presenting itself for inspection, I take out my phone and there it is: the best and most hilarious thing.
The photo is of a laptop screen showing my friend Ben’s Facebook feed. Taking up most of the frame is a faintly shimmering grey block with some wiggly lines going around in the middle. It has a certain Magic Eye quality to it, the grey block, but more dreary. At the top of the grey block it says “Write the number ‘5’ in the comments and watch what happens!” You are maybe nodding in recognition by this point. It’s possible you have seen this rubbish grey block and the instruction at the top and thought: No thanks. I don’t need to see what happens when I press “5.” It’s not important to me. I can feel in my spirit that I don’t need or want to press “5” and watch what happens. I’m finished with this idea. If you are even more wise to the ways of the world, what you thought was, I am not the type of mark who will press “5,” because what will happen when I do that is nothing.
Even if you have never seen this shitty grey block, you are at least nodding in assent at either of these responses. Who would want to press “5”? Eight hundred eighty-eight thousand people is who. What the screenshot plainly shows is that 888,000 people saw that shitty grey block and thought, Now hang on just one moment. What’s this “write ‘5’” business—intriguing. I’m not too proud to admit, even just here quietly to myself, that I’d like to see what happens with this unpromising-looking grey block when I write “5.” The world is full of wonders, even now, and I am not the kind of cynic who turns coldly away from the opportunity to write “5” and watch what happens.
Eight hundred eighty-eight thousand people did that, according to the screenshot. I only know who one of those people is, though: my mum. You can see her there, under the grey block, writing “5.” Waiting. Watching. “5.” It’s obviously just the way the algorithm works, showing Facebook users only the commenters that they’re friends with, etc., but the way it appears on Ben’s feed makes it look like my mother is the only person in the world who has done it. Just my mum sitting there in her office, on the computer, maybe with the ceiling fan whirring away, no one around, thinking,What harm can it do. It seems like what they’re saying is the picture is going to swirl around a bit, and maybe that would be nice for me. Well, here goes: 5. Let’s see, now.
The whole thing is excellent , and for the record - I had always thought these 5 posts were much more Pull-A-Prank than (oh no, is this an actual thing) Like Farming:
Why do you see posts such as "Like if you hate cancer, ignore if you don’t?" or "Press Like and type the number 1 and see what happens to the image!"
Known as Like Farming, the aim is to accrue as many Likes, Comments and Shares as possible and create a highly-valued 'Social Reach'. You see Facebook uses an algorithm that works out whether the content of a Facebook Page is to be shown to Facebook users. To put it simply the more, Likes, Comments and Shares the higher number of Facebook users will see it. All of these statistics contribute to that Facebook Page's EdgeRank.
Besides tricking people with annoying posts that exponentially grow to get their Facebook Page's Social Reach far and wide there is a more straightforward reason people do this.
There is money to be made from selling Facebook pages with large numbers of "Fans". Try Googling "Facebook Fan Pages for Sale" and you will see plenty of this sort of thing...
That all leaves me a mix of 🤓😔🤨🧐 tbh.
🤑 The Ultimate Succession Interview: Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook, and Kieran Culkin Talk to Each Other About Stuff
This - on the other hand - only has me ☺️☺️☺️. I mean truly - what kind of Succession news would it take to top an interview with the thr——
Annnnnnnnnnnd there we go!
🏀☠️ The Disaster Draft
AM threw this out in the group chat yesterday asking if anyone knew what a disaster draft was:
The NBA has a Catastrophe Rule where if an event results in the death of an entire NBA team, that team has an emergency draft. Each team can protect 4 guys from getting drafted. Then that team gets the top pick of the next draft (plus its own pick).
That’s really it - the whole reddit post pretty much. None of us had any clue this existed and - for maybe five you on the newsletter - is an entirely morbid/fascinating/horrifying thought. You’d have simultaneously the single worst event in modern sports history followed immediately with one of the most intriguing basketball draft one-offs imaginable completely ruined again by the complete tragedy that brought it about. The sort of protective rule that has to be written down for billionaire owners but only truly exists as a writer’s exercise or Knicks daydream.
🤠🐦 Someone is Putting Cowboy Hats on Pigeons in Las Vegas
Oh look saved you a click:
📱💻 This Is Not About How Young People Use Tech
Finally, a Taylor Lorenz master class on who/what/how to follow as an Internet culture reporter. Catnip for yours truly:
One thing I never, ever do is start with the premise “What are young people doing?” I always start with an interesting user behavior, or trend, or meme I see emerging, and look at why it’s being expressed in a certain way or how it evolved.
For instance, I would never ask, “What new memes are middle schoolers sharing?” But I might observe a new meme format emerging on Instagram Explore, like niche memes, then interview people on what it is about that particular format that allows them to express themselves in a better way, or what emotions it allows them to communicate better, or what tools they’re using and how they could be improved. The fact that mostly middle and high schoolers are the ones sharing niche memes is relevant, but somewhat secondary.
I also don’t think young people are the only ones using the internet in new, interesting and creative ways. Probably because I’m in my 30s, I’ve been really interested lately in the ways parents use tech to connect with one another and just generally parent culture online. For instance, I recently wrote about how pineapples became a meme in the world of in vitro fertilization, and the struggles of parenting a teenage social media star.
Later skaters!