September 24, 2011 Social media lies: Facebook is about ads
ark Zuckerberg, Facebook's chief executive, introduced the site's new features on Thursday. Photo: NYT
It seems you are either connected or disconnected in today’s world. The more connected you are – the more important you are socially. You have to brand yourself. Your popularity is measured by views, friends, posts to your wall, or how many times you were poked by someone you don’t even know.
We are being sold social media as though it is a great addition to our culture, one that furthers democracy and freedom of expression. But is this true? Could it be that we are just being exploited by the companies that advertise on these sites? And Facebook is just furthering this – by connecting us even tighter to companies that want to sell us more junk?
The NYT story that follows is an example of exactly what I mean. NYT- Facebook, the Web’s biggest social network, is where you go to see what your friends are up to. Now it wants to be a force that shapes what you watch, hear, read and buy.
Facebook is not becoming a purveyor of media products, like Apple or Amazon.com. Rather, it is teaming up with companies that distribute music, movies, information and games in positioning itself to become the conduit where news and entertainment is found and consumed. Its new partners include Netflix and Hulu for video, Spotify for music, The Washington Post and Yahoo for news, Ticketmaster for concert tickets and a host of food, travel and consumer brands.
Tags: advertising, marketing, sharing, Social Media
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