“Facebook has become a toy. Once a service recommends my father-in-law to me, it no longer adds any value in my life.” Howard Lindzon
HT to Damien Hoffman aka Wall Street Cheat Sheet
Damien: Do you have a core personal philosophy you tapped to develop that theory?
Howard: Yeah. In my soul I believe that positivity is rewarded. I truly believe in karma. I hang around with positive people who don’t keep score — which limits the people you hang around. For example, when I go out to dinner with people and everyone adds up the bill and I owe $11.22, you’re not going to see me hanging out with that group of people. Life’s too short. There’s no quarterly balance sheet. The balance sheet is over a much longer time frame. This philosophy is not going to make me the richest person in the world, but sometimes the richest people are the cheapest. I see this as one’s inner-gauge, which ultimately becomes that person’s lifestyle.
Twitter is interesting for this very reason. If your a negative person, you can’t hide that on Twitter for six months. For example, when I blog I can go through a negative phase, but on Twitter if I twit something negative, a few tweets later I’m back to positive again because Twitter is who you are. That’s why the feeds in Twitter and Facebook are so popular: you can’t hide who you are. If you’re a miserable fuck — and I could name five of them but I don’t want to give them the credibility — you’ll have your following but your followers are all miserable fucks too. That’s why the tech guys have been penciled into a corner with the nerds who like to fight all the time. They haven’t been as successful on Twitter because they’re always fighting. On the other hand, the entertainers have taken over Twitter because they are entertainers — they do things that are positive or funny or have something irreverent to say. That appeals to a much broader audience.
Damien: Do you prefer Facebook or Twitter?
Howard: Facebook is just too fake for me. First of all, Facebook is littered with people making mistakes because they think what is funny really isn’t. Second, it’s a big lie because people get to post the pictures they want everyone to see — like during high school when you put stuff on your wall. Everyone does the same thing: they hang what represents who they want to be, not what represents who they truly are.
Damien: You did a cool blog post about how Facebook is the ego and Twitter is the Id.
Howard: Exactly. I am not on Twitter’s recommended list. People who follow me have stuck with me because I share or because I make them laugh. That’s how I live my life. However, on Facebook I have a lot more followers, but I never go there. When someone follows me on Facebook they have a perceived vision of me. If they knew the real me, the one on Twitter, they’d have a fucking heart attack — they’d never invest with me again. [Laughing.]