For Facebook it's friends. For LinkedIn it's contacts. For Twitter it's followers. No matter what social media platform you're utilizing there are ways to track your "popularity" - or at least that's how some seem to view it. In a marketers mind it works... the more traffic I have on my website, the more successful it is - right? So why shouldn't my personal "traffic" equate my personal success?

I was at the Library with my family the other day and it was packed. So many people taking advantage of all the freebies the Library has to offer. Not just books anymore, but Internet, DVD's, music.... I started to wonder why it takes a major financial crisis for people to start using its resources more regularly. Why haven't we always flocked there? It's not like people don't like FREE... And then it dawned on me. For one, everything's - dare I say - "used", and more importantly, you have to return it. In capitalist society our house, our belongings, our careers, our possessions are what make us. Why get something for free if when you're done you can't display it for all to see?

It makes me wonder - how much of social media's success is attributed to our own subconscious capitalist urges? Getting more friends/followers/contacts, posting pictures about all the cool things you are doing, talking about your latest purchases... If Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn didn't publicly display our personal "statistics" would we devote as much time to them? I wonder to what degree they would be used in a communist environment? Less - or more, in an effort to define personal individuality?

What do you think? Drop a comment, or Tweet me via @beckyterhaar.