wearethedigitalkids:

keeptheballrolling:

People are not demographics, and talking about them as if they are makes communicating with them seem much simpler and different than it is. Slapping on an algorithm online does not make your advertising work. It might incrementally increase the effectiveness of it, but still: The ability of a display advert to communicate with an inherently complex human being at any given time is impossible for an algorithm improve. It comes down to this:Demographics hides the real value and effect of the communication – and our measuring models continues to support this model for the worst for companies and customers

from 180360720

humans and numbers are completely different for a reason.  we use numbers to symbolize our universe but, to point, so much is lost when the reverse is done (numbers trying to symbolize humans).  great communication and understanding takes time, effort and dedication.  there isn’t much more to that.

“validation” and “value” start at the same place for a reason.  so much is lost and overlooked when we try to assign singular planes.  from may of this year:

we can cry from the rooftops about metrics, pageviews, uniques, visitors, share of voice, whatever. think about it though - as a number, that is the extent of our definition and, unfortunately, the extent of our perception.

zachklein (via dpstyles):

It’s not the infographics on the page that interest me, rather it’s the trend of emphasizing a user’s popularity on the network. Lamentably, I think this metric will come to define the experience for the next generation of social networks. I fear that the internet’s utility will equate to constant awareness of one’s value, and the play of meaningless games to increase the sum. This in turn will render many networks impersonal and irrelevant. Like a candidate’s bid speech for high school class presidency, I fear my Tumblr dashboard will become padded with ‘popular stuff’ sure to garner votes rather than the intimate, vulnerable and quirky bits that I’ve enjoyed, and define Tumblr’s personality.

I’m disappointed by Tumblarity, and Ashton’s follower count for the same reasons. I liked the Internet better when it was nebulous, and now I’m depressed that it shaping up to be a social pyramid.

i really didn’t want to bring this discussion into my blog but i feel like it’s important. not because i’m on tumblr but because i care about the social evolution of community on the web. this morning, i mustered up enough to echo zach’s sentiment and call-out this new change:

i think i might call bull on this at first pass. not that i really care what a pretty arbitrary # means to an insular community but because it’s self-serving. i doubt i’ll ever care what my tumblrwhatever is because i use tumblr to run my blog.

the number crunching is taking into account supposed “influence” within a community as a way to leverage content. rightfully so, tumblr has the right to do this but i doubt this will help GROW community the right way. is it calculating WHOM the people are that make up these numbers? especially outside the world of tumblr? i don’t think so and that’s the biggest thing about the web. we can cry from the rooftops about metrics, pageviews, uniques, visitors, share of voice, whatever. think about it though - as a number, that is the extent of our definition and, unfortunately, the extent of our perception.

Originally posted as a comment by john ratcliffe-lee on Tumblr Staff using Disqus.

a good visual representation of this argument can be found here.