Is Rickrolling Devaluing Your Social Currency?

from the welcome-to-the-life-of-a-griefer dept

If you're reading this site, you probably know what Rickrolling means. However, did you ever think that people would be discussing how Rickrolling devalues your online currency? Yes, according to the Guardian, it's important to realize that Rickrolling is bad for you. The argument is pretty straightforward. Online, links are a form of "currency." If you provide good links, it increases your value to a community, but if you provide bad links... well then you lose a lot of value. And what kind of link could be worse than one that tricks you into watching a Rick Astley video (don't answer that)? Of course, I would think that's all rather obvious. Being a jerk and tricking people into clicking on bad links isn't likely to gain you many friends... except this ignores the context by which Rickrolling first came to prominence.

When it first came around, it was actually a way of gaining social currency within a specific community, where tricking others was seen as a part of the game. So, yes, in normal, polite company, being a jerk via Rickrolling might get people pissed off at you. And, these days, the meme is so played out that it might just get people to wonder why you're still living in 2007. However, to automatically assume that it "devalues" your social currency ignores the context in which it's used.

Filed Under: rickrolling, social currency