My project Reload The Love!, which artificially inflates your Facebook notification icons whenever they’re zero, has been the subject of some recent press from Israel. Both appear to be from teen-focused sites. One, from teenk buzzmag is titled “התוסף החדש של פייסבוק, or “Facebook’s New Plugin: Become Popular With One Click”.

Reload The Love! on Israel's teenk buzzmag

A translation:

The dream of being popular is part of all of us. Everyone wants a million friends, to get invitations to parties, and to be loved. For many of us this desire never goes away. Can you think of those times that you go to Facebook and find that nobody has left you a message? No one even sent you a friend request or anything at all to talk about? Remember that intense feeling of grief, that sense of sadness you feel after you experience those things? Now you can forget about your sadness with this new plugin that create a virtual illusion of popularity for you.

If you download this new plugin, even if there are other announcements about the production such as this, you will appear full of popularity and friends, at least in the realm of Facebook. Yes, you may be creating a facade, but the whole concept of popularity is a bit of an illusion, so there is nothing wrong with some attitude. So “how do I download?”. All you have to do is go to the link below and it will give you all the instructions. It’s very simple! You are one step ahead of “the most popular people on Facebook”.

Another, from Holes in the Net, is titled “התוסף שיגרום לכם להרגיש אהובים בפייסבוק“, or “Plug-in that makes you feel loved on Facebook.” My favorite bit from this one is the image they included where they showed before and after when using the project. The before is labeled “sad” and the after is labeled “success!”:

Reload The Love! on Israel's Holes in the Internet, Showing Before/After as 'Sad' and 'Success!'

What interests me most about these articles is the completely practical nature of it. There’s no mention of the work as an art project, only as a plug-in that solves the problem of feeling unloved on Facebook by putting up a ‘facade’ the makes you look popular. You can get “one step ahead of the most popular people on Facebook.” Indeed.

The project gained thousands of new installs as a result of this press. Install it yourself!