Are You Controlled by Social Media?
Storyboard Text
- Allow "APP" to Track You
- “Legitimately steal" information
- Trading in "Human Features"
- OMG! This's fantastic! We have great potential customers to advertise to. They are more likely to buy!
- xxx, xxx, xxx, ... (users with ID and phone numbers) are into Sneakers very much recently.
- Of course! xxxx dollars.
- Can we pay to advertise to those people on your platform?
- Behavioral Data
- Sneakers
- Let me go searching for some latest popular styles and see if there is any I like.
- OMG, They’re so nice. I love them (click “like")! Hahahahah
- I would like to buy a pair of sneakers.
- Behavioral Data
- Inciting Consumption
- "Allow" or "Not"? If you were told that if you didn't allow it, you wouldn't be able to use some features, such as not being able to post properly, to get tweets and to see the results of all searches, what would you choose? I think virtually everyone will click “Allow”. In fact, this is exactly the scene that is played out every day in today's society.
- Permitted to track users, social media platforms will collect netizens' online action (typos, chats, search preference, likes, pictures, and even time intervals between each action). However, all these collections are made by platforms' algorithm without the user's knowledge. So is there any difference between a social media platform and a hacker or a thief?
- “Timely” Advertisement
- Wow, how timely these ads on twitter are!
- The collected online actions of netizens are analyzed and classified by social media's algorithms (like Twitter), with the result that users are categorized based on their interests or preference, as in the story. After that, the relevant firms in the real economy (e.g., Nike and Adidas) will buy those information from social media firms to make targeted advertisement, which in turn increases their potential profits.
- Question！
- Should these ads really be praised for being timely???
- Wow, how timely these ads on twitter are!
- Do you often search for things that interest you in social software and click “like" or comment on them? The search history, likes, and the chats with friends would be all collected and analyzed. As a result, the teenager in story would be categorized as people who has purchasing need in sneakers by algorithms. These categorization will be sold to sports companies, as is shown in the previous page.
- Incite Over-consumption
- This one is so gorgeous! Okay, I must take it.
- Do you often search for things that interest you in social software and click “like" or comment on them? The search history, likes, and the chats with friends would be all collected and analyzed. As a result, the teenager in story would be categorized as people who has purchasing need in sneakers by algorithms. These categorization will be sold to sports companies, as is shown in the previous page.
- Unexpected Expense
- I’m out of money !?
- With data of potential customers, Nike and Adidas make target-oriented ads: so many ads about sneakers appear in the teen’s twitter webpage (left of the computer). Those ads always link to purchasing websites, making it easier to buy. Besides, online shopping platforms such as Amazon will also buy netizens’ behavior data, so the teen in story find things recommended by shopping platforms are all sneakers (right).
- With data of potential customers, Nike and Adidas make target-oriented ads: so many ads about sneakers appear in the teen’s twitter webpage (left of the computer). Those ads always link to purchasing websites, making it easier to buy. Besides, online shopping platforms such as Amazon will also buy netizens’ behavior data, so the teen in story find things recommended by shopping platforms are all sneakers (right).
- How do they know I want to buy sneakers? Whatever, these are great looking ones!
- Definitely NOT! This is exactly the trap made by surveillance capitalists. In fact, these ads are specifically tailored for people like the teen who has need for sneakers. They only make him click down an endless rabbit holes.
- How do they know I want to buy sneakers? Whatever, these are great looking ones!
- One more attractive advertisement after another dazzles him and makes him hesitate, which will virtually only lead to one result: over-consumption. Remember, the teen in the story may have only wanted to buy one pair of sneakers at the earliest, yet he very likely have ended up buying far more than one.
- Gosh, I also love this one so much. What should I do?
- Wait, this pair also looks so good, should I also buy it?
- Has this ever happened to you? Have you ever blamed yourself for being extravagance on online shopping? What I'm trying to tell you, however, is that it is probably not your fault, or at least not just because of you, but that the social media platforms you're using every day are luring you to do so.
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