Have been having some back-channel email discussion about whether a Facebook "like" of an artist's pronouncement, also made on Facebook, by a curator or critic, counts as an endorsement of the artist. What if three curators all "liked" it at the same time?
It seems if we're going to talk about a "like economy" (shudder), we're going to have to accept that social media buttons have meaning and that meaning can be preserved via screenshots. So therefore, if you're going to high five an artist who is hard at work building what an Art Papers writer, years ago, called a "personal legitimation script," you waive your right to complain if someone catches you in the act.
The conversation took an unpleasant turn with the suggestion that opinion-mongers had two alternatives: (i) to yuck it up, favin' and likin' artists along with high school and college buddies on Facebook (called a "social media presence"), or (ii) to live a life of bleak despair with a commentless blog that has no "like" buttons or any social media share options other than a copy-able permalink.*
Bad as option (ii) sounds, it doesn't mean being cut off from tbe world (people still endorse, trash-talk, and screenshot you) but best of all, you don't get poked.
*Update: and RSS