Social Inflation

Imagine you’re on a social network and you start getting tons of followers.

You love it! Your follower count is going up!

Instead of a nobody with a couple hundred followers, you’ve bypassed the 1k+ mark and it keeps going!

You’re ecstatic! This is the “next step” you were aspiring to.

But then you start looking around.

The people you’re following with 1k+ followers are now at 10k+.

It hits you: everyone else’s follower count is going up too.

The network owners announce: “We’re having a bot problem at the moment. We’re aware of it and working on it.”

1k followers isn’t what it used to be. Now you need 10k. Or 100k.

Everyone’s follower count is being inflated.

Now when my kids ask, “Why can’t we just print more money?” I think I can analogize currency inflation to their social network following. Your follower count going up makes you feel good, but it’s merely the illusion of growth. What seems like increase is actually dilution, as relative value remains consistent and genuine value hasn’t changed.

Economic disclaimer: this content is for fun only and should not be considered professional economic theory. Please do not send me emails or messages beginning with: “Well, actually…”