Platforms differ in how easily status can be faked versus genuinely performed

Evidence

According to this informant, Quora answers, which do tend to be lengthy and informative, make it possible to determine other people’s intelligence and knowledge, whereas Twitter popularity can be faked. If people are going to perform publicly for an audience in order to boost their status, this executive believes it is better for them to spend time on a site that rewards depth of content rather than just raw popularity. To a company founder, the end goal is determining who would be a good prospective employee based on a metric. — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 263

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to signaling theory in economics (Spence) and to the idea of costly vs. cheap signals. — connects to: Informal status behaviors become formalized status affordances when platforms embed them in software — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 260; Mass competition for uniqueness on uniform platforms undermines the authenticity sought — Naomi Klein, Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror…, 135; Micro-celebrity authenticity rests on cross-platform consistency of self-presentation — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 284 (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• Easily pirated reputational symbols lose credibility through overuse #exemplifies (0.88)
• Costly displays distinguish sincere believers from fakers #expands (0.85)
• Social media’s technical features encode and reinforce contradictory status values #expands (0.85) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 644
• Mass competition for uniqueness on uniform platforms undermines the authenticity sought #expands (0.82) — Naomi Klein, Doppelganger, 135
• Fake authenticity backstories exploit the internet’s democratizing promise #corroborates (0.80)
• Tech-scene authenticity means constancy and consistency, not volume of disclosure #qualifies (0.80) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 287
• Micro-celebrity authenticity rests on cross-platform consistency of self-presentation #qualifies (0.78) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 284
• Personal branding online creates performative doppelgangers demanding constant attention #expands (0.75) — Naomi Klein, Doppelganger, 32
• Online self-monitoring is emotional labor that cannot fully succeed due to constant platform churn #complicates (0.72) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 637