Do We Need a Web Ruled by Articulate Whiners?

One of the surprising effects of blogging culture and social media is that articulate and/or popular people have a vastly different experience than the rest of us. Just look at the EJ / AirBNB saga. Here’s how EJ started her story:

I am crouched low on the carpeted steps of my apartment building’s old staircase, bent over into something resembling the fetal position. There is a skylight overhead; the sun’s hazy glare makes me want to close my eyes, and not have to see for a while. But instead, I take this opportunity - with head resting heavily on the step above me - to record this moment in writing.

She goes on for 2,000 words in this vein. It’s great that EJ can write. (Almost as great as if she could edit, too.) But here’s the problem: typical Internet users don’t have the skill or patience to write something like this that ends up getting national attention. After EJ came public with her story, someone else who went through something similar—and took pictures—told a similar story. This one wasn’t quite as emotionally resonant, and not quite as vivid. Which is probably why it only got attention because it was similar to a bigger story.

This is one downside to the ostensibly democratizing effects of social media: it creates a “filter bubble” in which good writers and popular bloggers get good service—and have no idea that they’re getting anything out of the ordinary.

(This is also why VCs are generally too optimistic about early-stage social media sites. Of course you can get industry experts to answer your questions on Quora—they all want you to invest in their Series A. For any VC who wants to know the typical user experience available to the typical user, there are two indispensable tools: a psuedonym, and capslock.)