A Brief History of the Status Update
And Why I Care What People Post
It was the early 2000’s and I was in college. At the time, my “smartphone” was really a Motorola v60 flip phone that could access the web at speeds of 56kbps! Texting really wasn’t a thing because cellular data was extremely expensive. MySpace was already dead and Facebook was just starting to open up to schools outside the Ivy League. The true social network of the time was Aol Instant Messenger.
For me and everyone I knew, AIM was always open on top of the desktop. With broadband available in all the dorms and apartments around campus, there was no need to ever sign out or quit the program. If I wanted to know where someone was I would always check AIM first. Either they were online and we’d start chatting or their Away Message would tell me everything I needed to know—things like “BRB”, “at the library”, or “grocery shopping” were common place. But then something changed.
The Away Message stopped being a source of practical information and evolved to a place reserved for ambiguity, wit, and assorted Dave Matthews’ lyrics. The Away Message was no longer a source of information but a way to convey personality while remaining “away” on the friends list. These Away Messages would often elicit people to connect with an “lol” or “nice away.”
Eventually Facebook opened at our school and people signed up like wildfire. Within a week of launch, everyone I knew was on Facebook. But in the early days, Facebook was simpler. Usage focused primarily on the Status Update—unless you include the Poke, which is probably another essay completely.
The Status Update was a new place to put the ambiguous and witty thoughts or random DMB lyrics. I remember a friend, shortly after signing up for Facebook, asking, “Is Facebook just for AIM away’s?” He was basically right. Thoughts previously saved for AIM Away Messages were now being posted to Facebook. It was really the same function, just a separate outcome. Instead of someone reading the message and maybe comment on AIM, they would read the message and maybe comment on Facebook.
As the technology advanced, AIM started to fade out while Facebook continued to plow forward. By the end of the decade, Twitter arrived on the scene. Just like in Facebook’s infancy, Twitter became the new way to share ambiguous and witty thoughts—Dave Matthews was a victim of time just like Aol Instant Messenger. Our “followers” on Twitter could now read and maybe respond on Twitter, instead of Facebook or AIM before it. Same result. Different service.
After a decade of social media usage not much has evolved from the old AIM Away Message. The services come and go, but the essential message is still the same—simple, mostly trivial chatter that has a tremendous hold on my attention. But why? Why do I care so much about these blips into my “friends” lives?
When the AIM Away Message first came about, it was like a little glimpse into my friends lives. It gave me information I shouldn’t otherwise have and allowed me to interact with it if I wanted to. It was exciting and just a little bit voyeuristic. While the services have changed, the notion has remained the same and after a decade of glimpsing into people’s lives, the notion is almost second-nature.
But the truth is that, for the most part, I don’t really care what their latest status update is. If I did, I’d seek it out. I’d click on a user name and view their away message, just like the old AIM days. If I really cared, I wouldn’t scroll through endless drivel trying to get to the meat that I cared about. I’ve just been conditioned to think I care. I’ve been conditioned to think I’m supposed to care.
Maybe it’s time for some reconditioning.