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thedeadhaji
39489 Posts
There are Zero-Sum games, and there are Positive-Sum games. Happiness, or feeling good, or whatever we might call positive emotions, are not Zero-Sum games. We don't become less happy by making someone else happy. In fact, we often weel good about ourselves when we make other people feel good.
This is most apparent in our face to face interactions, but it's also true online as well. And online, we have direct, text based intereactions, and now with the proliferation of social networks, various indirect ways to interact. Most notable among these are Twitter "Favorites" and Facebook "Likes".
I used to think that Fav'ing or Liking a post was something that should be reserved, something that somehow detracted from myself. If you're sensitive about what information these internet powerhouses have on you, then this may be a legitimate concern (particularly at the big-F).
But I think this concern is much smaller on Twitter, where the company has comparatively very little of our personal information. If we're okay with a service provider getting marginally more information about ourselves from our Favs and Likes, I think we should make an effort to give our friends' posts a thumbs-up as often as possible. It's a small effect, but each Fav or Like definitely has a positive effect on the recipient; they certainly won't feel worse for getting a star.
We don't lose anything (or trivially little, at most) by Favoriting or Liking a post. On the other hand, our friends' spirits will get a little bit of a lift for the day. I'm sure some of you are thinking this is absolute common sense and doesn't even deserve a post, but I for one certainly didn't behave in this way for a very long time. So I just want to say, "Let's Fav More".
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Crosspost: http://www.hkmurakami.com/blog/
P.S. my "new years resolutions update" blogs aren't going to be crossposted to TL since they contain too little content to be entertaining for the majority of TL users.
 
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FREEAGLELAND26782 Posts
![[image loading]](http://th1162.photobucket.com/albums/q521/chiffoniercouture/th_facebook-like-icon.jpg) flamewheel likes this.
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Hong Kong9176 Posts
Upvotes on Reddit are certainly being treated as a zero-sum game, instead of the imaginary and limitless internet points they actually are.
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But then doesn't like-count just become a measure of how many people saw it, instead of how many people really enjoy it?
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On March 30 2013 16:38 jrkirby wrote:
But then doesn't like-count just become a measure of how many people saw it, instead of how many people really enjoy it?
It becomes a measure of how many people saw it and either genuinely liked it or were bothered enough to press the like button anyway.
It's much like one of those little lies we say every day to our friends and family. The recipients might often know it's a lie but they won't care, because why? It's a nice lie and everyone likes to hear it, not because of the lie itself, but because of the message it sends - that there's someone willing to say it to make you happy.
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Korea (South)17174 Posts
so i should spam like to make the world a better place mmmkay
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On March 30 2013 17:42 Rekrul wrote:
so i should spam like to make the world a better place mmmkay
yes you should.
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On March 30 2013 15:55 flamewheel wrote: flamewheel likes this.
I sense a new TL meme.
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I up vote quite a bit on stackoverflow 
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Yeah this has been my mentality for a long time. A lot of people enjoy receiving likes so why not give 'em the likes.
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I was actually thinking about this recently because I'm pretty reserved with dishing out 'likes' (clear net benefit) when it has 0 cost to me
I'll probably start being more liberal with my usage
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On March 31 2013 01:59 paper wrote:
I was actually thinking about this recently because I'm pretty reserved with dishing out 'likes' (clear net benefit) when it has 0 cost to me
I'll probably start being more liberal with my usage
Isn't this a great reason to like O.o
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On March 31 2013 02:05 Recognizable wrote:Show nested quote +On March 31 2013 01:59 paper wrote:
I was actually thinking about this recently because I'm pretty reserved with dishing out 'likes' (clear net benefit) when it has 0 cost to me
I'll probably start being more liberal with my usage Isn't this a great reason to like O.o
That's actually one of the reasons why I don't feel particularly good about liking in social networks. It's a really arbitrary thing and often times feels very fake, because how much is a "Like" worth? It's completely subjective, and it gets into circlejerk territory really fluently, and getting into circlejerk territory without even knowing it can have very negative consequences imo. Not only skewing your own view and opinions on things, but also leaving other people out of that circle.
That said, I don't really dislike it either. I don't have a clear opinion on it and right now I'm just observing and using it where it seems right. I'm just not convinced that it has only positive consequences under all circumstances, because it is a very binary method to show appreciation for something very complex (like your emotions about a picture, a comment, a video). What did you appreciate about it? Did you like it a bit or did you actually LOVE it? Why did you like it, what are the reasons?
And not only the receiver of your Like can guess about all this stuff, but also other people, which again can lead to a lot of negative stuff in my opinion, because everyone has all this potential to make the thing bigger (or smaller) than it actually is. Of course you and I wouldn't read so much into a Like, but people obsess over all sorts of things and they get this skewed view on the world which has to be resolved in the future, because it is not reality.
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i like to wait until someone is on facebook, and then go through their page and "like" everything as fast as i can, literally showering them with a cascade of "likes"
sometimes i will do that when they are offline, so that the next time they log onto facebook they have 99 notifications
just lil things to make ppl feel better.
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I can understand why this would make sense when talking about people you care about; perking up the day of a friend or family member with a like sounds like a good idea. But I don't think being more liberal with likes in general is a very good strategy. To sound sort of cliche, I look around the United States, and lack of self-esteem is not something that I detect as some sort of endemic problem. In fact, I'd say a fair amount of political conflict and societal schism deals precisely in too many people thinking too many others "like" their bullshit because of a little image on their Facebook page that tells them so.
So I guess my point is: like away, just be judicious!
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On March 31 2013 02:33 AiurZ wrote:
i like to wait until someone is on facebook, and then go through their page and "like" everything as fast as i can, literally showering them with a cascade of "likes"
sometimes i will do that when they are offline, so that the next time they log onto facebook they have 99 notifications
just lil things to make ppl feel better.
Sounds pretty creepy. I should do this to my ex just to mess with her :D
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On March 31 2013 00:16 docvoc wrote:I sense a new TL meme.
MasterDalK likes this.
(ontopic)I agree on the fact that handing out a favourite or like helps boost confidence (even if a little bit). Besides, all it is a click (on twitter, not facebook, facebook is a click and getting marketers more stuff to work with '~')
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this is why i like giving good ratings on blogs :>
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Facebook likes are a big privacy issue and you should stay away from it as much as possible.
Sure, it's a positive sum game between you and the person whose content you 'liked'. But it's very much a zero sum game between you and people who use the information for commercial purposes. Guess who is winning that game? (hint: it's not you)
I'm all for being nice and supportive in face to face interactions though. We could all use more of that.
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EPT
