Andy Warhol's Social Media (and not the 15 minutes of fame)

Andy Warhol was a true innovator and bizarre genius. Sure, his idea of 15 minutes of fame is so close to a reality through the social web, but beyond the ’15 minutes’ idea, Andy may have hit on a couple of the most appealing aspects of social media: Passive socializing and vicarious experience.

In The Philosophy of Andy Warhol: From A to B and Back Again Andy talked about how he would most prefer to spend his free time. Aside from watching multiple televisions and reading every magazine sprawled out on his bed, he would continually ask his friends what’s on TV, what’s been on, what’s going to be on. Essentially using them as proxies for the TV Guide, but getting so much more than just flat descriptions and star ratings. He got personal perspective. He got a peek into the minds and hearts of his friends via their preferences for what they wanted to watch while getting helpful information along the way.

But even more than this, he borrowed entertainment from his friends through continuous check-ins. “I love to while away the hours while other people do their meanwhiles, as long as they call in to report.”

This was written in 1975, so I can only imagine some of the types of updates Andy’s friends would have at check-in time.

But, isn’t this why we love our status updates? What did I do that would be entertaining to you? We hope the content of our experiences are interesting enough for someone we know to be entertained by it. We want to give all the Andy’s sitting in their beds watching TV get a taste of our lives to hopefully enrich theirs.

I actually like to think of social media used in this regard. It turns what could otherwise be a solipsistic motivation for broadcasting the minutiae of our lives into an altruistic purpose for all of us to entertain, enlighten and enrich each other.