The Subversive Hyperlink
The web has a superpower: permission-less link sharing.
I send you a link and as long as you have an agent, i.e. a browser (or a mere HTTP client), you can access the content at that link.
This ability to create and disseminate links is almost radical against the backdrop of today’s platforms.
To some, the hyperlink is dangerous and must be controlled:
- They want to control what you can link to (see: app stores & external purchase links).
- They want to control how many links you can make (see: the link-in-bio phenomenon).
- They want to monetize your links (see: search engines) and give you no credit (see: AI).
And yet, we keep on linking:
- To whatever we want (đź‘‹ Apple)
- However many times we want (đź‘‹ Meta)
- And with no expectation of return (đź‘‹ Google/Open AI)
Why? Because it’s a web. Interconnectedness is the whole point.
Links form the whole. Without links, there is no whole. No links means no web, only silos. Isolation. The absence of connection.
Subvert the status quo. Own a website. Make and share links.