I posted my finishing picture, race start, and a link to the post I wrote on my Facebook page and it received 50 likes. That’s unheard of when you lead with a quote from Dave Gildea. Plus I didn’t even put the post on the FB race page because the link wasn’t taking which is a whole other issue. For those wondering, which is not many, instead of adding the link to my page, I added the album with a link to the blog which is seemingly preferred.

If the fill in the blank is “black man”, I have to shake my head. Using the underline isn’t exactly being obscure.

I ask myself, “why did this post receive more attention than pretty much any post I’ve ever put on Facebook?” A few thoughts:

  • It was a decent picture. I ran a high pass / overlay in Photoshop and it made it come out sharp with detail. The picture itself is what it is, me finishing a 5k, which apparently is new to a lot of people as well.
  • The time was surprising for a 33 year old. Most people have families or work and are unable to stay in shape throughout their life. Considering I have neither, I’m able to post a reasonably fast time for my age group.  Whether people can translate this effectively is as good as anyone’s guess.
  • A few people started liking / commenting on the post. Once the post gets more than 10 likes, the group think starts churning and makes people think it’s better than what it really is. The exact number of people who came over from Facebook was 50 with a bounce rate of 80%. At least read the post!

I conclude that people follow the herd. I’ve been doing races for over a decade and no one gives a shit. This particular case was sprung by a decent picture, a few comments, and maybe a slow news day in summer. It’s pretty much why trying to understand social media can be a giant headache. We all know that the only events people care about are getting married, getting a girlfriend, or having a baby. Guaranteed 100 likes.

I’ll comment on the vanity it takes to need social media approval. This little experiment of posting the race doesn’t have me yearning for more approval. I don’t want approval from someone who doesn’t know the difference between a 5k and 5 mile time. I’d rather have 1 “genuinely understanding” like than a million sheeple. It’s sad if you prefer the inverse which is more apparent nowadays.