[HN Gopher] Status as a Service (2019)
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Status as a Service (2019)
Author : simonebrunozzi
Score : 74 points
Date : 2025-03-25 06:59 UTC (16 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.eugenewei.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.eugenewei.com)
| damnitbuilds wrote:
| As a hacker, I enjoy reading a few hundred words on some new
| optimisation method or an exciting new file system.
|
| But I find it almost impossible to read thousands and thousands
| and thousands of words on wishy washy social ideas backed up by a
| few personal anecdotes and some tenuous links to reality.
| cyberax wrote:
| LLMs are really great for summarizing these kinds of stories.
| rsi_triad wrote:
| Are they? Who actually checks them?
| handfuloflight wrote:
| That's why after scrolling I took it to Claude with the
| command: "Distill all of the novel insights and actionables in
| this."
| therein wrote:
| So in fewer words it was:
|
| > To create a successful social network, focus on providing a
| valuable single-user utility (utility) and a means for users
| to accumulate social capital, which drives growth and
| engagement. By understanding how social capital is created
| and maintained, you can design a network that fosters a
| positive flywheel of growth, leading to rapid expansion and
| user retention.
|
| Distill more.
|
| > Create a successful social network by providing a valuable
| utility and a way for users to accumulate social capital,
| which drives growth and engagement.
|
| Distill more.
|
| > Make social networks that give users value and help them
| gain status, and they will grow and engage.
|
| Sounds like the dream we were sold in early 2010s. Connect
| people and everything will improve? Is that what the author
| meant?
| aziaziazi wrote:
| > everything will improve
|
| What domain "everything" belongs to? From the first recap
| it's the company perspective:
|
| > network [...] rapid expansion and user retention
|
| While the third distillation suggest the _users_ will
| profit it:
|
| > users [...] will grow and engage
|
| Social network history show us both are not necessarily
| aligned.
| HPsquared wrote:
| The "they" refers to the social networks I think. The
| human reader is the one making the leap.
| ZephyrBlu wrote:
| Ignore and dismiss things like status as "wishy washy social
| ideas" at your own peril.
| karamanolev wrote:
| They might be referring just to the fact that it's difficult.
| I personally don't want to ignore them and I often don't.
| They're necessary and helpful in the real world, but that
| doesn't make it any easier.
| aziaziazi wrote:
| I double that and would add that they also commented on the
| form (length, links...) rather than the substance.
| damnitbuilds wrote:
| I have ignored and dismissed the pseudosciences of horoscopes
| and psychology all my happy life.
|
| People who need and look for this sort of advice would be
| well-served if it was backed up with anything factual, and
| are badly served when it is not.
| owebmaster wrote:
| I'm no specialist in horoscope pseudoscience but it has
| helped me with dating a few times tho
| immibis wrote:
| Dismissing psychology is one reason you don't run a popular
| social network.
| keiferski wrote:
| This is a form of anti-intellectualism which is, for some
| reason, acceptable in technical circles. Probably because
| economic success gained by expertise in one field tends to make
| people think that expertise transfers to other fields. It's a
| shame and the technology industry is worse off for it -
| especially as of late with all the half-baked philosophizing
| about AI.
| damnitbuilds wrote:
| Yes, the half in "Half-baked" is making long-winded
| assertions backed up with anecdotes not facts. [Editted]
|
| It is anti-intellectual to blather on over pages and pages,
| trying to tell people how to live their lives without giving
| any information to show if ones statements are correct or
| not.
|
| "Intellectual" is, for some reason, accepted in some circles
| as meaning longwinded unscientific musings, to which whole
| university departments are devoted. That does not mean it is
| not an utter waste of time and effort, that would be better
| spent on measuring things and giving advice that is actually
| shown to improve people's lives.
| greg_V wrote:
| The tech anti-intellectualism is different though. Like you
| see these kinds of posts that approach the subject as if no
| one ever has seriously studied it, and the tell is always
| that there's barely a scholarly work cited, but there's
| plenty of metaphors to describe how say, sociological
| phenomena work by way of "it's just like XY tech or
| business model."
|
| Like I get the acclaim, if you're raised in this
| environment, the business tech vocab will feel more
| familiar. Is it a good / better way to describe the world
| than the established scientific field? No.
|
| But reading the "Peasant and his body" by Bourdieu instead
| would not have the same... social coinage in tech as
| reading the influencer of the realm.
| sujumayas wrote:
| Just "explain like I am 5" to gpt and sit back.
| netsharc wrote:
| I found it obnoxious that they started with 4 "Editor's Note"
| tangents, and the first sentence of the whole thing is "Look at
| how funny I am".
|
| It's like all those YouTubers who start their videos with
| rambling on about what's new in their lives...
| yuzhun wrote:
| This one is really very interesting. I will take reading it as a
| kind of enjoyment.
| jiri wrote:
| long, but very good!
|
| > You can take the monkey out of the status-seeking game, but you
| can't take the status-seeking out of the monkey.
|
| plenty of such gems
| HPsquared wrote:
| Humans are flesh and blood after all. Our entire higher brain
| only exists to serve the inner lizard.
| trash_cat wrote:
| Personal TL;DR this article interprets social media from two
| axies, utility and social capital. Fundemetal assumption being
| here that people seek both and if that is the case you can apply
| economic rules to it to understand how they operate. Hence they
| provide Social Status as a Service (StaaS).
|
| High social status + High Utility = High Entertainment.
|
| > if you want control of your own happiness, don't tie it to
| someone else's scoreboard.
| johnisgood wrote:
| > if you want control of your own happiness, don't tie it to
| someone else's scoreboard.
|
| A variation of this is as old as philosophy itself.
| damnitbuilds wrote:
| A variation of this is as old as Monty Python itself.
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QereR0CViMY
| vivzkestrel wrote:
| where do i find a list of all blog posts on this website without
| scrolling 10 miles down? I would like to see the titles of all
| posts
| dublinben wrote:
| There's an RSS feed in the source code:
| https://www.eugenewei.com/blog?format=rss
| thomasfl wrote:
| Best read today. Social networks have a lot in common with
| cryptocurrency. Early adopters on instagram have a lot in common
| with early adopters with cryptomining computers in their bedroom.
| grvdrm wrote:
| One of his best - read it close to when it first came out. The
| idea that there is some minimum work level required really
| reframed my view re: how networks proliferate.
| EA0707 wrote:
| Very long, but an outstanding article. I wish he'd blog more.
| That one is from 2019. Would love his take on the state of social
| in 2025.
| beepbopboopp wrote:
| He just did a pretty good long-form interview this past week:
|
| https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/11-eugene-wei-amusing-...
|
| tl;dr He walked away from social because the current incentives
| destroy your brain.
| lordfrito wrote:
| I was hoping the article was about a paid service to increase
| your social status, bypassing proof of work... e.g. buying stars
| for Sneeches
| sujumayas wrote:
| Comments are closed in the article, and it's from 2019... But...
| How do you explain Google Reader then?
|
| It was a super proof-of-work-oriented. The ones who used it where
| like gods of article sharing. I hade the best newsletters by
| persons I knew. And then one day... Poof. Whyyyy?
|
| I will miss you forever Google Reader.
| nathan_compton wrote:
| After I got married and had children my status seeking behavior
| basically vanished. Too busy.
| WorkerBee28474 wrote:
| Or maybe your status-seeking behaviors had already fulfilled
| their purpose and were no longer needed.
| DrNosferatu wrote:
| *Social* Status as a service?
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