twitter usability is awful right now and I don’t feel like going to the gym yet, so we’re going to get this out of the way early today.

a few things I would like to discuss:

> firstly: AI and automating labor is going to further exacerbate the contrast between Those With and Those Without. I have made other comments about this, specifically in regard to Uber Buses (lol, lmao) and other things I can’t readily remember off the top, but yes, AI customer service reps and AI sales reps will be another feature of this growing socioeconomic contrast. if you are poor, you will interface with organizations and institutions and companies etc etc etc through digital AI-based chat interfaces; if you are wealthy, you will interface with organizations and institutions and companies through other, real people.

for the most part, this won’t really matter. Those Without will just be more frustrated with their user experience than Those With, because of course it’s easier to get things done when talking with a real person, and anyone who says otherwise is simply a bad communicator.

anyway, watch out for this trend. I personally will be interested to see the impact in the litigation process, because if the entire transaction is conducted through AI, and you get a bunch of broken terms and conditions that are continually violated, how do you press charges or take that sort of entity to court? I assume you would sue the whole organization. I don’t know.

> secondly: the big thing in digital marketing, at least in some sectors, is building a community. you have to build a community around something. you have to build a community around a product. you’re selling a community, not a service. blah blah blah. ok, we hear you.

so how do you actually build a community? it starts with rituals. over the past long time, I’ve been active in a variety of online communities. a foundational differentiator in those who sustain and those who don’t: (ideally daily) ritualistic engagement (and ideally from those with significant social capital vested in the community, i.e. the de facto leaders of the group).

a popular and basic example of this is saying “gm”, a popular greeting across many platforms in many communities. it’s simple, direct, polite, establishes a pro-social tone, and prompts others to respond in kind. these are all great features of a ritual, by the way. write them down.

this ritual works like a lightning rod for attention. once you (or leadership, or whoever) send the signal, if inspires other members of the community to get involved. a few opening statements of engagement, and then you basically create space for people to have a sandbox conversation about whatever they might be interested in at that moment. this is the fundamental purpose of community: to engage socially while exchaning mutually beneficial, or at least interesting, information. some may say “how do we know what is beneficial and interesting?” and that’s up to you, dear reader. you are the narrator of the information. it’s your story to tell. figure it out.

all of this to say — I guess if there’s a point at all — is that you have to keep up with the bleeding edge or else it’s going to slowly erode your quality of life. you’re going to find yourself in unfamiliar places with tools you don’t know how to use, described in words you don’t understand. there is a growing divide in society, and it would behoove you to find ways of navigating that chasm. there’s a million ways to do it, pick one.

also, rituals are important for getting people engaged. that is what a ‘bit’ is, arguably; just a memetic ritual that changes form over time. like a piece of wet clay on a pottery wheel, constantly being molded into different shapes.