Digital culture has changed the way we read texts. We read diagonally, in hypertext or by keywords. Social networks have played a prominent role in this process. Although we may find it hard to admit it, the “like” button is having a huge impact on the way we relate to and access cultural events. The world of Facebook is determining and homogenizing behavior. One of our 2,000 friends (of whom we personally know perhaps 350) posts a photo of a trip and we click “like,” an artist we know posts images of his latest exhibition and we write a quick and enthusiastic comment, someone else posts a photo of an exquisite dish he has just prepared on his wall and we click “like,” an actor we appreciate dies and we say “like” with the thumbs up icon, although in reality what we want to say is that it affects us, that we regret it and that we like to remember him for his memorable performances. Someone else posts a link about a reportable situation (animal abuse, an artist who is the victim of a case of censorship, or the introduction of a new law that takes us back to the 1950s) and we have to say “I like it,” even though we understand that what we are applauding is the denunciation of the facts. We are equally limited when we want to react to news related to culture, for example, to the publication of an article on an artistic topic. We say “I like it” even before reading it. What we really want to say is “I like that someone wrote it,” “I like that someone shared the reference on social networks,” “I like the title… although I will read it at another time more calmly.” A moment that only comes for a very small percentage of cases, because again we are busy pointing out many other things that we appreciate that are there. The culture of “I like it” is the triumph of quantitative rather than qualitative forms of evaluation, of the absolute lack of nuances. In the same way that art institutions are always asked to justify their programming to politicians based on audience figures. The “like” culture aims to have many “likes”, masses of followers or friends. It is a culture of figures, in which everything is quantifiable and you can always access a higher level by contracting additional services. But where is the place for discussion and exchange of opinions? In relation to art, it happens on social networks on very few occasions and always tinged with controversy (with topics as diverse as the Canódromo or Bibiana Ballvé). In the online forums of the articles on culture in newspapers, after the fifth intervention, insults begin. In specialized art magazines, comments rarely occur. Surely the place for debate is once again the face-to-face, the bars, the chats or face-to-face meetings.
