The most important concern for Big Social is status.

How do I know this?

Because a post is known as a "status update".

Some questions for everyone still using Big Social:

What is a status?

Why does it need updating?

Why is a status updated in the context of social?

Further question: why does Big Social call it a "status update" and not "journal, "note, or "diary"?

Big social emphasizes "status" because status is:

1. Short
2. Easy to parse
3. Easy to categorize

Hence why they're obsessed with your status updates on social media: your social status.

Facebook built its fortune not on building relationships. I mean, that's what they'd have you believe.

No, it's all about the meta data.

This instant messenger conversation from Mark Zuckeberg—made back in 2004—is relevant.

Now it's important to remember *how* Facebook acquired all its meta data.

The original site started as a Hot or Not clone. But soon Zuckerberg figured out that he could gain all the more meta data by allowing users to set their relationship status.

This enabled him to collect even *more* data.

Ultimately, every company can only be their reason to exist.

Meaning that they can't *not* be what they were created to be.

And Facebook's reason to exist is to collect metadata.

The easiest way to do this is through status. And as it happens, people are willing to share status through the context of sharing updates with their friends a d family.