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Love vs. fame: A framework for social applications

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While “social” is often generalized as a single monolithic category, there’s actually a ton of variance in today’s landscape of social apps. An axis on which I like to analyze social networks is how much they appeal to users’ desire for love vs. fame. Years ago, Kevin Lin, the co-founder of Twitch, told me that there are three dimensions on which Twitch offers value to creators: love, fame, and money. (There’s a YouTube clip of Emmett Shear, another Twitch co-founder, outlining this framework.) For the purpose of this post, I’ll put money—or the prospect of earnings—aside, since that’s an orthogonal dimension that I’ll unpack later. All social networking apps fall on a spectrum from love to fame. On the love side of the spectrum are products that focus on deepening connections with others. Examples are iMessage, WhatsApp, early Facebook, and Discord. The value proposition is connecting more intentionally with others, cultivating existing relationships, and intensifying affinity. These

While “social” is often generalized as a single monolithic category, there’s actually a ton of variance in today’s landscape of social apps. An axis on which I like to analyze social networks is how much they appeal to users’ desire for love vs. fame. Years ago, Kevin Lin, the co-founder of Twitch, told me that there are three dimensions on which Twitch offers value to creators: love, fame, and money. (There’s a YouTube clip of Emmett Shear, another Twitch co-founder, outlining this framework.) For the purpose of this post, I’ll put money—or the prospect of earnings—aside, since that’s an…

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