The Coolness Bell Curve

I have a very interesting job in that it is partly my responsibility to determine what is cool. That’s pretty amazing given that most people upon first meeting would never think, “This is the guy who exemplifies cool.” Typically it’s “I bet this guy could do my taxes” or “I think he spends twenty hours a day staring at a computer screen.” Still, I have somehow found myself in a position to present to people what is cool in the online world, even though I wear t-shirts that not only are older than MySpace but are older than most of the people on MySpace.

I mention all this because I read an article today that had the best phrase I have seen in ages: The Law of Diminishing Coolness. The idea is pretty simple, there is a point at which an item’s popularity has grown so much that it becomes less cool for each additional person who jumps on the bandwagon. Here is a simple example. I first knew of the Dave Matthews Band in 1994. This was within weeks of Under the Table and Dreaming being released. I had the fire dancer t-shirt and was wearing it around U of I with people going, “Who in the world is that?” That was being on the leading edge of cool. Now fast forward a few years and DMB is the biggest band in the world and I stop being a fan. Because I don’t want to be a fan of a band that everyone else is a fan of. You don’t want to be in the same row at a concert with all of the people who made fun of you in high school.

Now I’ve talked about this concept before but when you place it in the context of the modern internet (and especially social networking) it becomes a very interesting concept. Basically, it ties into the fact that if I’m doing something it probably isn’t cool anymore. I mean, how cool and cutting edge is MySpace if even I have a page? Doesn’t that mean everyone has a page? Would you want to be on MySpace if you knew that your mom also had a page? Social networking needs scale to be successful and at too large of a scale you get collapses like Friendster but even if you survive the technological limitations you still have to deal with the fact that at some point all of the people that you don’t want to talk to are using the service. And at that point it is time to leave.

That’s what I’m wondering about when I think about MySpace. I remember a few months ago seeing Chili’s advertise their MySpace page. If you started using the site when it was just you and your friends talking about music how does it feel to see it being overrun by people trying to sell you overpriced potato skins? Isn’t there an inevitable collapse? I know people say that there is a critical mass but doesn’t that just mean at some point new users would simply go somewhere else?

The other point this article made is that everyone points to sites like MySpace and Second Life as the future when in reality it is not as if we are gaining more time in our lives. I have a hell of a time taking care of my job and my vague semblance of a social life and still have time to write, even though I am more passionate about writing than anything else I do. I’m going to be stealing hours come November to get my novel done and that is going to be a top priority of mine. Now how in the world am I supposed to fit in a virtual social life in Second Life? Something has to give and I’m not sure that people are going to choose digital interactions over the analog kind. At some point you have to wonder if even though technology is cool it might not necessarily be better.

Have a great weekend everyone. If you are in KC, go see the movie “Once”. I might just not leave the theater. Glen Hansard is already getting talk about Oscar nominations for his songs in the movie and that is just incredible.