Please Like Me

May the Most Likes Win

There used to be a point of time when talent counted for something.

When people were hired based on merit.

When an employer looked at your content.

When your ability to sing, dance or write decided if you became a singer, dancer or journalist respectively.

When the future of your talent did not depend upon your number of friends.

Today, all that matters is how many friends you have. And by ‘friends’, I mean:

People who’s inboxes / newsfeeds you have access to

People who you can spam

People who your ‘friends’ can spam

People who basically have nothing better to do in their life than ‘like’ you and your talent.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I believe in democracy. I believe in exercising our right to vote. But I do think there might be a few things out there that require our vote bank attention more than, say, the most liked video on youtube.

Or an article submitted in a journalism contest.

Or a dance routine.

Or a song.

Or the quality of a photograph.

Aren’t there certain criteria that can be used by qualified individuals in a company to choose the best entry? Clearly not. Here are a few possible reasons why:

1. Art is too subjective. You might like what I hate.
2. It’s too much cognitive work for judges
3. Why not make use of the 6+ billion people out there?
4. While we’re at it, why not push the onus of getting voted on the contestants themselves?
5. And while we’re at that, we might as well get our name / brand out there in the open. Just as a bonus.

So, if you haven’t already, start hoarding up as many contacts / followers as you can on Facebook / LinkedIn / Twitter / whatever virtual connection is out there. You never know when your future might depend on the click of a button: on your ability to be ‘liked’.

And here I was thinking that our obsession with popularity was a hormonal phase that we left behind in high school.