Which is the main character?

I came of age long before social media, so I have to admit that Snapchat streaks seemed a little strange to me. The idea of exchanging pictures every day seems weird enough to me, but doing it just to keep a number growing feels like a lot of effort for very little reward. After reading this article, however, I realized that the streak itself is not really the point.

The authors argue that Snapchat streaks are an example of gamification, where game-like elements are added to everyday activities. What I found most interesting was not the streaks themselves, but how they changed the way people communicated. The researchers found that teenagers spend a surprising amount of time talking about the streaks by reminding each other to send snaps, explaining why they missed a day, warning friends about upcoming interruptions, and even negotiating whether to restart a streak after losing one.

From my perspective, I can compare this to what happened in organizations where we measured and preached customer service scores.  I repeatedly saw that over time, conversations and focus would shift towards the score and checking the boxes for the score rather than genuine service delivery which was the original objective.  In these cases, the metric became as important as the objective.  Some would argue that the increased awareness and discussion of service created a net gain.  It also created ‘going through the motions’ necessary to navigate the scoring system.  I’m not arguing for or against:  I’m just giving an outside of social media example of this article’s point.  

I learned a new term from this article - metacommunication.  This is what the researchers called this type of ‘communication about communication’. The streak became more than a score. It created expectations, obligations, and even social pressure. People started managing relationships around the game.

The broader lesson for me is that technology doesn’t simply support communication; it shapes it. Whether it is a Snapchat streak, a customer service score, or an employee recognition badge, the systems we create influence how people behave and interact. Makes me wonder if the most important thing to study is not the activity itself, but how people adapt to the rules surrounding it.

Reference:  

Hristova, D., Jovicic, S., Göbl, B., de Freitas, S., & Slunecko, T. (2022). Why did we lose our Snapchat streak? Social media gamification and metacommunication. Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 5, Article 100172. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chbr.2022.100172


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