Working in Public: The Making and Maintenance of Open Source Software

by Nadia Asparouhova

We measure the reputational value of content differently depending on whether we’re viewing it in static or active state. “Likes” and “follows” are not the same reward on social media. A viral tweet might gain thousands of likes, but those don’t necessarily translate into follows. The same goes for views and likes on a YouTube video, versus subscribing to its creator’s channel. The difference between likes and follows also helps us understand when maintenance costs matter. A viral YouTube video doesn’t necessarily have ongoing costs if its creator doesn’t plan on making more videos. But if the creator aspires to become famous for their work, they also become, in a sense, a maintainer, because they need to keep producing more content in order to maintain their reputation. We can think of a creator’s reputation as a “battery,” or store of value, for attention. More followers mean more attention in the bank, but when people follow a creator they do so because they expect to receive more content. If creators don’t produce anything new, their followers will eventually get bored and leave. Reputation, like software, requires maintenance over time.