I’m confused about the effects of the internet on social groups. [1]
On the one hand… the internet enables much larger social groups (e.g. reddit communities with tens of thousands of members) and much larger circles of social influence (e.g. instagram celebrities having millions of followers). Both of these will tend to display network effects. However, A) social status is zero-sum, and B) there are diminishing returns to the health benefits of social status [2]. This suggests that on the margin moving from a very large number of small communities (e.g. bowling clubs) to a smaller number of larger communities (e.g. bowling YouTubers) will be net negative, because the benefits of status gains at the top will diminish faster than the harms from losses at the median.
On the other hand… the internet enables much more niched social groups. Ceteris paribus, this suggests it should enable more groups and higher quality groups.
I don’t know how to weigh these effects, but currenly expect the former to be a fair bit larger.
[1] In addition to being confused I’m also uncertain, due to lack of data I could obtain in a few hours, probably.
[2] In contrast to the psychological benefits of status, I think social capital can sometimes have increasing returns. One mechanism: if you grow your network, the number of connections between units in your network grows even faster.
My recent thinking about this in relation to creative content is this:
1. The middle has gotten much narrower. That is, because news can travel fast, and we can see what people’s opinions are, and high status people have more reach, the “average person’s aesthetic loves” are now much closer to the typical person. People who make content for a mainstream audience now have to contend with this mega-tastemaking machine, and there’s not as much space to go around because EVERYBODY is watching game of thrones and reading harry potter.
2. The tails have gotten much wider. That is, because self-publishing is easy, and searching is easy, and SOOO much content is at our fingertips, there are way more and way more varied fringe tastes than ever before, and people who make weird or out there content now have the option of making a living with 1000 true fans.
I haven’t thought about it too much, but it’s possible the internet has had the same effect on groups in general. With mainstream groups being bigger, and there being more room for niche groups. In general if we’re talking about people’s wellbeing, I suspect the first effect (of seeing how lititle status you have relative to the megastars) to overwhelm the effect of being able to find niche groups to be a part of.
So whether the internet is good or bad hinges on 1) whether (or to what degree) the health benefits of social status can be imparted via the internet, and 2) knowledge about social graphs that might be obtained from Facebook, or possessed by the NSA?
I’m confused about the effects of the internet on social groups. [1]
On the one hand… the internet enables much larger social groups (e.g. reddit communities with tens of thousands of members) and much larger circles of social influence (e.g. instagram celebrities having millions of followers). Both of these will tend to display network effects. However, A) social status is zero-sum, and B) there are diminishing returns to the health benefits of social status [2]. This suggests that on the margin moving from a very large number of small communities (e.g. bowling clubs) to a smaller number of larger communities (e.g. bowling YouTubers) will be net negative, because the benefits of status gains at the top will diminish faster than the harms from losses at the median.
On the other hand… the internet enables much more niched social groups. Ceteris paribus, this suggests it should enable more groups and higher quality groups.
I don’t know how to weigh these effects, but currenly expect the former to be a fair bit larger.
[1] In addition to being confused I’m also uncertain, due to lack of data I could obtain in a few hours, probably.
[2] In contrast to the psychological benefits of status, I think social capital can sometimes have increasing returns. One mechanism: if you grow your network, the number of connections between units in your network grows even faster.
My recent thinking about this in relation to creative content is this:
1. The middle has gotten much narrower. That is, because news can travel fast, and we can see what people’s opinions are, and high status people have more reach, the “average person’s aesthetic loves” are now much closer to the typical person. People who make content for a mainstream audience now have to contend with this mega-tastemaking machine, and there’s not as much space to go around because EVERYBODY is watching game of thrones and reading harry potter.
2. The tails have gotten much wider. That is, because self-publishing is easy, and searching is easy, and SOOO much content is at our fingertips, there are way more and way more varied fringe tastes than ever before, and people who make weird or out there content now have the option of making a living with 1000 true fans.
I haven’t thought about it too much, but it’s possible the internet has had the same effect on groups in general. With mainstream groups being bigger, and there being more room for niche groups. In general if we’re talking about people’s wellbeing, I suspect the first effect (of seeing how lititle status you have relative to the megastars) to overwhelm the effect of being able to find niche groups to be a part of.
So whether the internet is good or bad hinges on 1) whether (or to what degree) the health benefits of social status can be imparted via the internet, and 2) knowledge about social graphs that might be obtained from Facebook, or possessed by the NSA?
If you’re asking whether your paraphrase actually captures my model, it doesn’t. If you’re making a point, I’m afraid I don’t get it.
While your model makes a lot of sense, I’m unclear on what data would clear this up.