I’ve been thinking about what it would be like if Facebook principles operated in real life:
1) Water cooler. A new employee pours boiling water. Suddenly you have a question – “where’s the nearest restaurant to go have lunch?” You get an answer. After that, various people start flooding into your office to tell you they responded to that new guy. They only stop when you hang a “do not disturb about the restaurant” sign on your door. There’s already a whole door covered with signs on various topics.
2) Train station. Crowds of people scurrying back and forth, staring at the ground. Suddenly, one of them stops, looks up, and loudly shouts, “I watched the last episode of ‘Game of Thrones’ today!” And then he moves on. The others applaud, someone might kick him, some catch up to ask related and unrelated questions. The guy keeps walking, surrounded by a small but gradually thinning crowd.
3) Faces to the ground, but on top of their heads – the best photo from a corporate party or a trip from five years ago. That’s how everyone recognizes each other.
4) If you throw something else into the thinning crowd, like “I lost my passport!”, it doesn’t disperse as quickly because everyone is curious about how it happened and eager to give advice. Even if they are slightly strangers. They’re definitely interested.
5) Periodically, some people run up and show videos from Thailand and photos from a corporate party. Overall, no one gets offended if you ignore them, as there are always more eyes following behind. Give a thumb up or a compliment, and people start jumping and rejoicing. If you criticize, they start a discussion or a squabble.
There is a great series “Black Mirror,” and one of the episodes is exactly about likes in real life. Highly recommend it.
Hi, I'm Rauf Aliev. 