What’s in a “Friend”?
Read the essay on connection bloat by designer, artist & cyberethnographer Ruby Justice Thelot. These days, instead of following your real friends online, you’re probably also following celebrities, brands, new outlets, and politicians. This causes connection bloat, the phenomenon whereby, over time, the number of people followed steadily increases. This, in turn, deteriorates the social experience of Instagram because the content becomes too diverse, too multifarious.