Really cool piece about how Etsy pioneered really next level virtual events that designed around presence, joy, and human connection.

If you're into hosting, community building, brand development, advocacy, etc, you'll probably enjoy this

Some thoughts: https://daniellexo.substack.com/p/how-etsy-created-joyful-online-events

On one hand, this is inspiring, illuminating, and makes me want to envision a future with better video chatting products that enable this sort of multifaceted interaction

- moving your likeness/avatar around
- dynamically providing feedback to speakers
- entering different rooms

(Actually, now that I think about it, this is kind of a different take on Clubhouse for a desktop-first world that Etsy made for its own artisans' community. Hm...)

But on the other hand, I don't think it's what the world needs right now as far as social technologies.

I think we're at a point where people generally want their screens to enable them to get off screens.

Screens are vehicles, not destinations.

Videochat is so good when it comes to producing something, driving towards an output, getting things done.

Nobody wants their joy and sense of connection to come from the computer or phone beyond a certain threshold. After that, it's unsustainable. The joy is lost.

This is why so many social networks eventually become media networks.

Because socializing on the internet is only cool and exciting when it's feeding your sense of connection.

BUT...

At some point, connection must monetize.

So the network prioritizes edges between "media creators" and people (instead of people and people.)

Incentivizes people to become media creators because they attract dollars (whether via ads, patronage, subscriptions, etc.)

This product arc is pretty well understood now, which is why you see people who would've tried building a social network in 2005-2013 now pretty much exclusively focused on creator marketplaces that have social features attached.

(Aside: this is why "community" is hot rn)

"Community" in the world of technology is just a dense node of edges.

Someone/thing in the middle. Many people who connect to that thing. Some capacities offered to those people to connect to each other.

"Community" in the human world is ALSO a dense node of edges.

BUT instead of something in the middle, it's more dense nodes within those dense nodes. Clusters of clusters.

Many connect to many. Many capacities for people to connect to each other and the local "others."

But I digress.

My point is, we don't want to socialize on screens. It's tiring and we want more nuance with less mental overhead.

And socializing on screens is not a good business model either. It eventually pollutes with media and creates a disconnected society.

What we want is the screens to help us find the best things in life that aren't on screens.

Consuming on screens is only valuable insofar as it expands our radius of thoughts and considerations and introducing us to people, places and things we wouldn't otherwise know.

We have to balance that value with our inherent need for affirmation that we're also good enough as we are, that we belong, that our thoughts are important, right, or valuable to someone.

When that need gets the best of us, screens become less valuable and more draining.

That drain obviously has a ton of byproducts (fragmentation, sensationalism, polarization, mindless tribalism, etc. etc.), but at its root is just a dearth of human spirit.

When people talk about zoom gloom or quarantine exhaustion, this drain is what it actually is

Etsy's Virtual Labs from 2009 was novel and exciting at the time

when the internet was a shiny new object

when screens did not consume our entire transactional life

Something like Virtual Labs today would be contextualized by an entire different world

a world where the internet is a market opportunity

a world where screens are an escape from the anxieties and emotional burden that faces us in the real world

TLDR:

We don't need more bells and whistles for social technologies

We need more technologies that enable us to become social

didn't expect to write such a windy thread, but ended up connecting dots between

- social tech
- creator economy
- community and its evolution over time
- IRL vs. virtual connection, gatherings, facilitation

if you think about those things, curious to hear what this sparks

paging some people that come to mind for diff reasons:
@gplewis @visakanv @HipCityReg @simonsarris / @ryandawidjan @thisisneer

@shl @ljin18 @justindross @joshelman @eriktorenberg / @allthingsmarco @redgaskell @shriyanevati

@caspertk @baileyelaine @heif @gregisenberg @tonybgoode