I recently read an article in ReadWriteWeb about amateur food porn and how it needs to stop. I couldn’t agree more. In fact, it’s one of my least favorite aspects of social media.
Social networks, in essence, are platforms for people to share and disseminate information. This sadly includes a number of things I could care less about, amateur food porn included. For those who don’t know, Wikipedia states that food porn is “a glamorized spectacular visual presentation of cooking or eating in advertisements, infomercials, cooking shows or other visual media.”
What is this?
This is one of the many activities that needs to be stopped across all social media. Another pet peeve of mine is overusing Foursquare. Now, I have nothing against Foursquare. After all, I used to be an avid user. But there was one thing I never did: share my location when it wasn’t cool. To be honest, I’ve deleted friends from Facebook and Twitter because 50 percent of their posts were Foursquare check-ins. There’s literally nothing I care less about than when you’re at Target. What value does this bring to my Facebook or Twitter feed? None. Now, if you’re somewhere awesome, like a museum, sports game, hole-in-the-wall bar or a concert, then by all means, check in. I want to know when you’re at a cool place. But please, stop telling me every time you go to the drug store.
I know this seems like an over-the-top rant–and it is–but things need to change. Food porn and Foursquare usage aren’t the only things that need to be reevaluated, either. The thing that concerns me the most is the status update (or tweet).
Everyone’s guilty of posting mundane, valueless statuses (myself included), but they’re getting a little out of hand. I think Jesse Eisenberg’s character in “Zombieland” summed it up best: “The best thing about Z-land … no Facebook status updates. You know, ‘Rob Curtis is gearing up for Friday.’ Who cares?” Exactly! Who cares? No one … well, not me at least.
I know it’s completely unrealistic for every status, tweet, check-in, etc. to contain meaningful content. There are things I’ll post that’ll violate my own rules from time to time, but it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t strive toward a future that has smarter social media.
Aside from sheer annoyance, there are actual real-world implications poor social content can have. We’ve discussed it a few times already, but Google has completely revamped how their search service works. Search, plus Your World has completely changed the game with social content (Google+) showing up in search results, which makes this even more important. If you’re a Google+ user, for the sake of everyone in your Circles, keep an eye on what you’re posting.
When I post something to a social network, I usually ask myself, “Would I want to read this?” If the answer’s “no”, then I don’t post it. You should do the same.
We want to know what annoys you in social media! Tell us in the comments.
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