After watching the Netflix film The Social Dilemma, it really opened my eyes to the way social media platforms operate from a business perspective. I always knew they sold out data but when looking at it from the angle of “we are the products being sold to marketers” it is unsettling yet perplexing to think about. The film also provided us a great context into the mindset of these types of business structures. They don’t care about its users because the users are not the target market, the advertisers are.
Think of it as we are cows in a farm. You can’t have a farm without cows, but farmers don’t care if their cows are happy or not because their target market is the people buying the milk. A great social media example of this I can recall is when Instagram moved their notifications tab. People were outraged. They did not like that the button had been moved, and further replaced with a shopping button. Instagram heard the feedback; however, they didn’t care about the user’s reaction. The people they were looking to market to was advertisers, who probably really enjoyed their products being promoted via the home bar.
Watching this film really changed my perspective about technology and how I look at it. Before, I wouldn’t think twice about social media, but after understanding their business model I see it more as a corporation. A well-oiled machine bringing their cows to the auction.
Trailer for The Social Dilemma:
Your example of the farm as the social media is great. This example helps me understand the current situation of people who use social media.