You are being observed. The Social Media Conundrum.

image citation: http://blogs-images.forbes.com/benkerschberg/files/2011/09/Social-Media-Icons.png

Albrow (1990) as quoted by Rantanen in 2005 theorizes Globalization as the “world (being) incorporated into a single world society, global society” (Rantanen, T 2005). Social Media can be seen as a testament to this theory. It allows people via the Internet to communicate to others all around the world, sharing information & personal details about oneself. All the while giving you the impression that the use of these sites is free.  Although “users do not pay Facebook or Twitter to use the services” (Ritzer, George and Jurgenson, Nathan 2010) in physical dollars, they are in fact paying with something else. Personal Information.

It has been acknowledged that the “world has been dominated by capitalism” (Ritzer, George and Jurgenson, Nathan 2010) and Social Media sites & the Internet are successful businesses as they “are fundamentally based on surveillance and behavior control” (Ritzer, George and Jurgenson, Nathan 2010). With the rise of social media, big businesses have become encompassed “oriented toward finding ways to profit from this new environment” (Ritzer, George and Jurgenson, Nathan 2010).  They found a way. 

Social media sites such as Facebook compile the information provided by users, “selling (that) information, often for advertising purposes” (Ritzer, George and Jurgenson, Nathan 2010). Users of these sites are realized as cash cows for they “can be used to generate profit in many different ways, primarily advertising” (Ritzer, George and Jurgenson, Nathan 2010). Often personalized advertisements can now appear on networking sites as the information provided by users is marketed against them.   

It is a bargain that many users of social media are yet to recognize, as they provide an online environment with which to express ourselves “and in return we unwittingly provide them with gold” (Wilson, S 2012).

So here in lies the social media predicament. Is the usage of these sites actually free? Or are users being exploited by way of their personal information being sold to corporations, so that the corporations can then in turn market individualized advertisements back at the user? What do you think?

This video shows some of the negative effects social networking, among them, marketing exploitation. 

Citations:

Ritzer, George and Jurgenson, Nathan 2010 ‘Production, Consumption, Prosumption: The nature of capitalism in the age of the digital ‘prosumer’, Journal of Consumer Culture, vol. 10 no. 1, pp 13-36.

Rantanen, T. (2005) The Media and Globalization, Sage, London, pp. 1-18

Wilson, S 2012, Social media exploitation is gravest risk Sydney Morning Herald, The, 03126315, Mar 05, 2012