Almost five years ago, in a soliloquy transcribed by The Wall Street Journal, Reid Hoffman suggested a comprehensive theory of social-network success.
“Social networks do best when they tap into one of the seven deadly sins,” the LinkedIn co-founder and venture capitalist said. “Zynga is sloth. LinkedIn is greed. With Facebook, it’s vanity, and how people choose to present themselves to their friends.”
Lust, of course, is Tinder.
Gluttony is Instagram
Sloth was Zynga once, per Hoffman, but Zynga is no more. Now sloth is Netflix.
Wrath, according to Dante, was a twin sin to sullenness. Rarely has there been a better description of Twitter.
Envy makes people so desirous of what they don’t have that they become blind to what they have. That’s Pinterest.
Pride is Medium.
Vanity or Vainglory—an unrestrained belief in one’s own attractiveness, and a love of boasting. That’s Facebook.
Acedia, a word we have now largely lost but whose meaning survives somewhat in melancholy. It is the feeling of Tumblr, it is the feeling of Deep YouTube