 | Chichikov bought records of these dead souls from landowners eager to lighten their own tax burdens. Papers certifying Chichikov’s ownership of 400 “souls” rapidly elevated Chichikov’s status: landed gentry opened their homes to him, tried to give away their daughters in marriage, and celebrated him at town functions. And all it took was a record of ownership of hundreds of “souls.” So every time I see another article or an ad about how to acquire more followers on twitter, friends on Facebook, or otherwise collect more “souls” for money, fame, or reputation, I start thinking about Chichikov. He did come to an ignominous end, finally fleeing town. Makes me wonder. |
Marina Gorbis, executive director at Institute for the Future and guestblogger for Boing Booing, offers an analogy between the way social media’s followers can be used today and Nicolay Gogol’s novel Dead Souls. See also how you can buy followers for your Twitter account.
• Jul 08, 2009 link notes [via] tagged: technology social society relation friend friendship follower author novel future Twitter
