Silicon Valley grants status through affiliation or self-proclaimed blogging legitimacy rather than credentials
Evidence
Silicon Valley is very forgiving of strangers who just show up at the doorstep. I mean, you can have any hook whatsoever that gets you in. The company you work for can do that like if you’re with a hot startup, like if someone is like, “Oh, I work for Digg.” You instantly say, “OK, that’s that type of person.” It sort of gives you entrance or a membership in a tribe, almost, but you can also create your own legitimacy. You can just start blogging every day, like “Hi, oh, I’m Megan. I write for My Blog,” and then suddenly it’s like, “Oh, OK, that’s great. You’re a blogger,” and that makes sense to people. — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 480
Categorization
- XREF: Connects to signaling theory and Milgrom’s reputation institutions — legitimacy through tribal affiliation and self-nomination rather than formal accreditation. — connects to: Silicon Valley startups function like cults and clans demanding total identification — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 183; Micro-celebrity is a learned status practice rooted in Silicon Valley’s entrepreneurial values — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 314; Blatant self-promotion on social media signals low status — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 516 (+4 more)
Broader Connections
- Micro-celebrity is a learned status practice rooted in Silicon Valley’s entrepreneurial values
#corroborates(0.82) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 314 - Blatant self-promotion on social media signals low status
#qualifies(0.75) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 516 - Digital self-promotion is singularization, distinct from biographical individualization
#expands(0.72) — Jürgen Habermas, A New Structural Transformation of the…, 43 - Journalism’s truth-falsehood distinction directly opposes platforms’ radical indifference to content
#responds-to(0.72) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1610