SOCIAL MEDIA IS THE GIANT TEDDY BEAR AT THE CARNIVAL

Today I read two posts from people who understand the whole “social media is rigged” thing. The unwritten rules of “don’t include links,” or “post often,” or “make videos.”

These two posts buttered up the situation (“haha social media is horrible!”), but then they saw results – it’s a miracle!

No, friends. This is exactly how social media operates. It’s the giant teddy bear at the carnival gambit.

At every county fair, you’ll always spot some poor jerk carrying around a giant teddy-bear they “won” on the midway. But they didn’t win it – not by getting three balls in the peach-basket. Rather, the carny running the rigged game either chose not to operate the “scissor” that kicks balls out of the basket. Or, if the game is “honest” (that is, merely impossible to win, rather than gimmicked), the operator will make a too-good-to-refuse offer: “Get one ball in and I’ll give you this keychain. Win two keychains and I’ll let you trade them for this giant teddy bear.”

Carnies aren’t in the business of giving away giant teddy bears – rather, the gambit is an investment. Giving a mark a giant teddy bear to carry around the midway all day acts as a convincer, luring other marks to try to land three balls in the basket and win their own teddy bear.

These posts trick other folks back to filling up the feeds, engaging, and replying to DMs. So now instead of writing your next newsletter, or working on your website, you’re back to to throwing spaghetti at the walls of the social media platforms.