Social Media as Ritual

Technology first enabled the separation of the communication from its source--the missive wasn't physically delivered in the usual sense but independently of transportation. Then technology enabled the separation of the communication from its content, being interactive in real-time. The point of the communication is not to relay content but to feel connected and so communication becomes an end in itself and the content a vehicle. 

It is not ritual communication but communication as ritual. Anyone looking for content in this context will be frustrated. There is content but the content is not the point. Nothing original is going on and what is conveyed is mostly independent of the content since the content is only a signifier, a key or code opening a door based on shared experience and values which are then reinforced, just as Jews enter a temple or Catholics a church.

Again, looking for content in this context is beating you head against a wall. The content, the signifier, is arbitrary and though it may contain symbols or symbolic language these are oftentimes encoded and unrelated to the apparent meaning since none of it is relevant anyway. All that needs to be conveyed is conveyed in the act if showing up, not that there aren't trolls whose exception proves the rule of the irrelevancy of the content.