Our Happiest Artificial Selves
Why Instagram winning is not the point
Authenticity in social media is dying. With Instagram (Facebook) clamoring to own our attention, and clamoring to convince us to clamor for the attention of our friends, family, and some 800 million other people, it’s clear we aren’t meant to do so as our selves. At least not all of our selves. Not our moments of weakness or vulnerability, or our loneliness, or our rage at the human condition. We’re to present our human experience as enriching, enjoyable, and free from concern.
I recently listened to an episode of Recode Decode where Kara Swisher interviewed Snap CEO Evan Spiegel. Evan spoke about the values, culture, and philosophy of Snap- talking points about the human experience, connectivity, and building and growing relationships. I believe that he and his company believe those things. But it wasn’t the words Evan offered that convinced me. It was what he didn’t say. In the negative space was something striking:
Our product allows for unhappiness. It gives people the freedom to show weakness and vulnerability and a spectrum of emotion not granted on other platforms. Our product is not about improving the human experience, it’s about giving people room to share their experience as it is.
Sending a snap is more personal than sending an Instagram message. More intimate. Maybe that’s because its initial buzz was around the platform as a tool for expressing sexuality; it’s hard to say. What I do know is that, comparing the two, one affords me the opportunity to send “I miss you” and one doesn’t. And, in the end, the one that doesn’t is going to win out and today that worries me.
