Metrics become socially interpreted measures of personal self-worth
Evidence
Kawasaki implies that follower count is less useful than re-tweets as a metric because one’s number of followers does not indicate the usefulness of one’s tweets—but he still relies on a metric to determine whether or not his account is helpful to others. Metrics, whether automatically or algorithmically generated, are socially interpreted as measures of self-worth. Kawasaki wants to be useful to others, echoing an instrumental, business-like approach to social media use, but he also uses metrics to determine how he himself measures up. — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 217
Categorization
- DEFINE: Defines how metrics function as self-worth gauges regardless of which metric is chosen — a core mechanism of self-branding culture.
- XREF: connects to: Wellness culture shifted from collective self-knowledge to individual self-worth — Naomi Klein, Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror…, 591; Social media metrics convert audience size into a comparable measure of personal status — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 245; Stigmatized groups may base self-worth on noncomparative, noncontingent criteria — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1102 (+7 more)
Broader Connections
- Social media metrics convert audience size into a comparable measure of personal status
#exemplifies(0.95) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 245 - Instrumentarian social engineering principles produce chronic self-comparison among young women online
#exemplifies(0.80) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1426 - Stigmatized groups may base self-worth on noncomparative, noncontingent criteria
#expands(0.78) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1102 - Stigmatized people may use ingroup rather than mainstream standards for self-worth
#expands(0.75) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1103 - Wellness culture shifted from collective self-knowledge to individual self-worth
#qualifies(0.72) — Naomi Klein, Doppelganger, 591