What would Twitter look like if there was no quantified number of followers and no count for retweets? What would Facebook be like without a number next to your friend list or a number next to the thumbs up icon? How would Instagram look if you got the hearts, but you had to count them yourself if you really wanted to know how many people like a photo? I ask that question to students, because I want them to see how relationships become gamified via social media. I want them to make sense out of the quantified, competitive, data-based elements of each social media platform. I want them to think about the social engineering behind the places that feel inherently neutral.
