How Social Media Made Popularity Boring

Popularity used to be something you sensed rather than something you counted. Not anymore, as this line from a beautifully written exploration of influence puts it:

“I miss the days when popularity was cool and aloof, identifiable only by the feelings of desire, envy, and yearning experienced by those who looked upon it. Today, there is no mystery. The metrics of popularity are pervasive and unavoidable.”

I loved the piece for what it says about what happens to influence in an age where popularity has become a job, and where social interactions are increasingly shaped not by how we experience them but by how they are captured and shared online.