Mark Manson, who is an author and fairly well-known blogger in the psychology/philosophy space, tackled social media this week and I felt this piece connects directly to some of the discussions we've had on here about Virginia Tech and HokieNation as a whole. There are a few things that directly correlated for me. I've linked the blog below for those who want to read it. I highly recommend it, especially for @Chris Coleman and @Will Stewart since they'll find some usefulness in this outside of what I mention below.

In the article, Mark makes the case that only 1% of the users of any platform actually create content (for most bigger platforms that's probably in the ballpark but for TSL or say VTScoop its probably higher) while 9% engage with the content and 90% lurk. This 90/9/1 rule leads to a weirdly inverted and deeply flawed view of reality on any social media platform. Most people are open to having their opinions changed and will weigh all arguments but a few on both the pro or con side are deeply entrenched.

What you get from this is opinions from the extreme on both sides that don't represent the vast majority of the population or subscriber base. Mark writes "People develop extreme and irrational levels of pessimism. Because creators online tend to be the doomsayers and extremists, the overall perception of the state of the world skews increasingly negative." I find this to be true, especially these days, on Virginia Tech message boards (moreso VTScoop).

This is why I was a little surprised when Will ran a poll after the season and the vast majority of the fanbase were open to giving Fuente another year or two to see if he can turn around the program. At the time if you visited either message board, every thread trended negative and toward firing him after the season.

Mark points this out by saying "But this is not reality. Social media does not reflect reality. Social media reflects a fun-house mirror of society, one that elongates and exaggerates the crazy and extraordinary, while minimizing and compressing the sane and ordinary."

One thing that I've struggled with over the last few years was wondering if by contributing to social media usage (as well as online message boards and sites like reddit) am I contributing to the downfall of society? Over the last two years, I've rolled back my social media usage, stopped using a few platforms all together, and stuck to just a few sites and communities I enjoy. This article helped alleviate some of those worries. It's important to remember that the vast majority of opinions you see online are not from the middle of the aisle or even are shared by the vast majority of people in a certain group. Especially, on Virginia Tech message boards.