micro-individuality
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micro-individuality
Thanks to the Internet, products across categories are now more susceptible to trends than to individual preferences. It’s easy to blame algorithms for the sameness of our taste choices, but the real culprit is us. Humans use social signals to quickly orient themselves in the world.
Ana Andjelic • The Business of Aspiration: How Social, Cultural, and Environmental Capital Changes Brands
It wants vibes that can be both unmistakable and transmissible. This is the strange paradox of our moment: the most valuable selfhood is the one that is scarce enough to be non-fungible, yet legible enough to circulate frictionlessly through the algorithmic and economic marketplace.
Tina He • Vibecore: the economics of authenticity
In digital spaces, brands can have personalities and influencers with whom one has never met can feel like close friends. These are consequences of the same thing. The parasocializing force that humanizes corporations also serves to abstract the individual, collapsing individual identity into something more synthetic and structured