{"id":175,"date":"2015-04-17T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-04-17T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zachbarnesonwriting.wordpress.com\/?p=175"},"modified":"2015-04-17T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-04-17T17:00:00","slug":"the-quest-for-the-holy-like","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2015\/04\/17\/the-quest-for-the-holy-like\/","title":{"rendered":"The Quest for the Holy Like"},"content":{"rendered":"

So a while ago I titled a post “IMPORTANT! MUST READ!” to see if it got increased response. \u00a0And it did. \u00a0A LOT<\/em>… \u00a0I have to admit, that made me pretty happy. \u00a0Which in turn spawned a post that has little to do with writing until the very end.<\/p>\n

To begin, “likes” feel good.<\/p>\n

They’re not a very big commitment, either. \u00a0I’m not extorting you to buy some shady product when you press the “like” button. \u00a0(By the way, I’m extending the Facebook term “like” to cover the\u00a0whole gamut of social media’s positive\u00a0expressions.)<\/p>\n

They–likes–have become the axis upon which all of social media turns, for good or bad, because of their effectiveness.<\/p>\n

It seems to me that there are two ways to use social media:<\/p>\n

1) to actually keep in touch with a friend\/invite folks to your dog’s birthday party<\/p>\n

2) to editorialize your life<\/p>\n

Some would criticize this\u00a0binary approach, and\u00a0to them I’ll just cite\u00a0homo sapien sapien<\/em>‘s bilateral symmetry and move on. \u00a0Point one (1) is pretty dang cool, albeit\u00a0limited, because honestly, you can only have so many\u00a0friends<\/em>. \u00a0But because of the functionality of social media, you are allowed to have many “friends\/subscribers\/followers” and this is where the Quest for the Holy Like begins!<\/p>\n

\"Monty<\/a>
Indeed; a wise choice!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dear n00b social media adventurer, the lands of Facebook are plagued with bad videos and oversharing. \u00a0It is your solemn duty to post something funny, witty, and concise, and acquire 10\u00a0likes. \u00a0Good luck.<\/em><\/p>\n

I imagine the above as a sort of teeth-cutting. \u00a010 likes isn’t a ton, but at the same time it represents a cool phenomenon–ten people took 3.2 seconds out of their day to glance at your post and press a button. \u00a0And that’s the kinda cool, even if it is a very minimum action. \u00a0Just think: some of those people might have actually\u00a0read<\/em> your post!<\/p>\n

Ah! \u00a0I see you’ve vanquished LAD Bible… well done! \u00a0Now write something snide that touches on a deeper societal truth and acquire 50 likes. \u00a0This, adventurer, is your quest.\u00a0<\/i>(You must read this in John Cleese’s voice, or go back two spaces!)<\/p>\n

Now the quest continues, and I don’t think that anyone could argue that likes might be construed as a negative thing. \u00a0In fact, whenever I put anything on social media (which\u00a0isn’t strictly sharing a funny thing with my friends) I feel like I’m playing the lottery. \u00a0Maybe I’ll hit the publicity jackpot! \u00a0Maybe the next quest will be for 2 million likes.<\/p>\n

In an age where the most random of things becomes viral, the jackpot of likes is a driving force behind the editorialization of people’s lives, that is, point two (2). \u00a0Why share that sort of thing unless you want “friends” to “like” it?<\/p>\n

\"Frenchy-French!\"<\/a>
Frenchy-French!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Now, this might sound like a criticism of social media, but it isn’t. \u00a0I’d love<\/em> for my book to go viral. \u00a0“Likes” are what authors seek, not just on social media, but through reviews, book sharing, that sort of thing.<\/p>\n

Chasing the like is okay, as long as you remember why you’re doing it in the first place. \u00a0I want to share and sell my novel, but I like reminding myself\u00a0why<\/em> I wrote it in the first place. \u00a0What about you?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear n00b social media adventurer, the lands of Facebook are plagued with bad videos and oversharing. It is your solemn duty to post something funny, witty, and concise, and acquire 10 likes. Good luck.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":178,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amazonpipp_noncename":"","amazon-product-isactive":"","amazon-product-single-asin":"","amazon-product-content-location":"","amazon-product-content-hook-override":"","amazon-product-excerpt-hook-override":"","amazon-product-singular-only":"","amazon-product-amazon-desc":"","amazon-product-show-gallery":"","amazon-product-show-features":"","amazon-product-newwindow":"","amazon-product-show-list-price":"","amazon-product-show-used-price":"","amazon-product-show-saved-amt":"","amazon-product-timestamp":"","amazon-product-new-title":"","amazon-product-use-cartURL":"","amazon_featured_post_meta_key":"","_amazon_featured_alt":"","amazon-product-template":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[21,38,39,40,50,52],"tags":[61,94,122,130,155,177,204],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":154,"url":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2015\/03\/04\/the-power-of-names\/","url_meta":{"origin":175,"position":0},"title":"The Power of Names","date":"March 4, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"A good title is true to its material. It doesn't initially mislead the reader. A title designed to mislead the reader is probably followed by a mischievous, misleading, sarcastic book.","rel":"nofollow","context":"In \"Genre\"","img":{"src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49,"url":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2015\/01\/15\/prepare-to-be-uninspired\/","url_meta":{"origin":175,"position":1},"title":"Prepare to be Uninspired!","date":"January 15, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"This is why it's easy to dismiss writing as \"creative fun\" rather than \"work\". If someone were to take a peek at me during the percolation stage, they'd have reason to think I was joking around about being an author. I mean, look! He's just staring at the screen, drooling\u2026","rel":"nofollow","context":"In \"Mountains\"","img":{"src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}