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View submission: Announcing Online Presence Indicators
Thank you for commenting with this - I work in product marketing and I think you've hit the nail on the head. This is an engagement-driving tactic, and it's very likely to work.
Even as someone who's consciously aware of features like this and the motivations behind them, I still find that they influence and modify my behaviour in certain apps and websites.
But let's be honest, even though increased engagement isn't an inherently bad target for a company to aim for, we *have* seen glimpses of where it can lead.
Algorithms that show you more of what you love, people it knows you'll like, and services it knows you need. Gamification tactics that keep you coming back to collect more or hit milestones or gain status. Community elements to help you feel like you belong and you're valued. Notifications and comms to remind you to do something. Etc, etc... It all works - to a point.
And after that point, all your engagement becomes entirely meaningless. To you. To the company. To their partners.
People get stuck in a bubble of the same views, political leanings, media consumption, and interests. Popular brands / products / services grow in popularity while startups with fresh ideas never get any exposure because the algorithm won't favour them. Whoever can afford to get seen, gets seen.
Gamification becomes robotic, you've invested time and effort into something so you keep going but you don't even care about it anymore. It's just meaningless internet points or badges or achievements.
The community is toxic. Extremist views don't seem so extreme if your view of what's healthy/unhealthy is actually all zoomed in on one end of the spectrum to begin with.
I could write about this all day, I find it fascinating and yet really worrying at the same time. I suspect Reddit are adopting a growth marketing approach and rolling out little features like this will be their way of seeing what's a hit and what's a miss. I just hope it doesn't lead us down the same path that places like FB have gone.
There's nothing here!