Robert Katzki
A Like Can’t Go Anywhere, But a Compliment Can Go a Long Way
Suppose a person comes across something quite nice on Instagram or Twitter. They could write a pleasant comment, but they are probably going to Like the post instead. […] There is no feature for displeasure on social media, so if a person wants to express that, they must write. Complaints get wrapped in language, and language is always specific.
Very interesting post by Frank Chimero on how just one negative comment on social media gets way more room in terms of pixels than a million likes. The one negative is what sticks. Grasping a million likes in form of a heart or similar is very hard and abstract.
The features of software with massive reach always have unintended consequences. For instance, social media, by making positivity easy and quantifiable, has ensured that negativity looms large. It’s become a place where we count the good things and experience the bad things.
To counter this: write compliments. Write something positive to fill the room with something good.