The internet is built on fraud. Measuring article and video views keep the wheels of online advertising spinning, while counting likes, faves, etc., constitute an insturment that has us all opening apps when we should know better. The new public view count for tweets is one of the dumbest metrics around.
A data-laden feature beloved only by social media managers and sadists, the view count has been kept away from the analytic menu. It is useful if you are running a business or a brand, but only if you are. It doesn't mean anything for us.
Or at least it was known by the micro-blogging site. The company's former employee, Paul Stamatiou, said he worked on a view count feature in 2015, but that he and his team decided it was too sad to start.
Stamatiou said that they tested it and most people didn't get any views. He notes that the company wanted to show users that they weren't "tweeting into the void" but that the view count proved they were.
Users are highlighting the disparity between view counts, likes, and retweets.
Stamatiou highlights what I think is one of the more compelling features of the micro-messaging service: the ability to take a break. Stamatiou believes that the ambient sense that no-one cares is more important than the fact that you are reminded.
It is open and always-flowing. Similar to the anonymity of the city, these qualities give you freedom. It means you can just watch life flow by on the timelines and say what you want. When you reach a certain level of fame, the site becomes really bad, either through a single gauche or a sustained commitment to gaining followers. When the hordes arrive at your door, they want to misunderstand you. When it is just you and a few mutuals, it is quite enjoyable.
Public view counts are a bad idea. They turn everytweet into an event. The potential for failure is created by counting views. It encourages us all to become brand managers of our own life, as if the pressure to do so wasn't already there, and engagement hustlers trying to strike it lucky with our next #thREAD and summaries of financial advice. It is no coincidence that public views encourage us to become the sort of people who like to pay attention to what others are saying on their social media accounts. Adding view counts will make it harder for them to do what they're already doing.
Regardless of the count, it doesn't matter. If it is low, you were ignored, and if it is high, you fucked up in a way that is about to be revealed to you. The most radioactive substance on the web, attention, is registered by the most radioactive view counts on the internet.
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