Any sufficiently overheated industry will eventually resemble high school. High school is filled with insecurity, social climbing, backbiting, false friends, faux achievements, high drama and not much content. Much of this insecurity comes from a market that doesn't make good judgments, that doesn't understand how to reliably choose between alternatives. So it turns into a popularity contest.

As Tom Hanks reportedly said, "Hollywood is like high school, but with money."

Or the fashion magazine industry, which is high school but with more makeup.

Add to that the Internet, which is like high school but with a modem.

Or Twitter, which is high school but only 140 characters at a time.

As in high school, the winners are the ones who don't take it too seriously and understand what they're trying to accomplish. Get stuck in the never ending drama (worrying about what irrelevant people think) and you'll never get anything done. The only thing worse than coming in second place in the race for student council president is... winning.