Did Likes Kill Conversations?

Yesterday, I couldn’t help thinking about a trend that I have noticed lately. You see, I started a brand new blog (which you can find here) about my photography. In a few days, I saw quite a few links incoming. More than I get on this blog on average (although the sharp decline in quality posts is probably to blame for that) but not a single comment.

WordPRess isn’t the first or only place with a like button. I also noticed the trend over at Twitter and the home of the Original Like Buttom(TM), the blue behemoth Facebook.

Clicking a “Like” button is fast and easy. It also gives the recipient of the like a short “high”. But it seems to have killed conversations about content online. As an author of something, I can’t interact with likes. They just exist in this separate realm of “People who like my stuff, but who don’t want to talk about it.”

I am not complaining about the likes I am getting. I’s just a trend I noticed. It sort of breaks the concept of interacting with readers to building an audience. Or at the very least it changes the entire idea.

I guess it’s something you have to accept. I have always been a “Comments over likes” kind of person, because it allows you to talk about the content in question. But I suppose that the way people consume their content has changed.

I’m also highly aware of how ironic it would be when I post this on Facebook and Twitter and receive nothing but likes. What a crazy world we live in!

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