The Effects of Social Media on Interactions and Economic Value
The term social media has been well-known to describe the world wide web especially the social networking sites, blogs, microblogs, and wikis. There are different effects when people are interacting with others and the heads of the platform. The effects are felt if one focuses on the new economic structure generated by the program. Even when the information is being shared indirectly or directly being sold, the interaction depends on the capture of value generated by operators who are involved in the building of the economic value of the respective media. The new communication technologies are used by the society to boost interactions between the involved individuals (Scholz 221). This interaction between viewers and the program is used to generate money for the those behind the achievement of the program. However, some companies and organizations do not pay or underpay their staff. This practice leads to exploitation and demoralization of media personalities. For example, the producer may reduce payment grounded on the ideology that the contestants and the targeted audience are willing to work for the invisible payment entirely by giving ideas. The producers of the shows also appear to consider business logic copying the western counterparts. This leads to various problems like estranging the free labor. This article will analyze underpayment in the media sector especially social media to reveal the critical conditions of labour and how they relate to each other.
The Internet and Commercial Exploitation by Google
The study of the internet reveals that it is the internet is the playground of critical thinking about the contemporary internet being the biggest critic of political economy. The effects can be felt when the internet which is the biggest tool of the media experiences time of capitalism crisis and is no surprise that critical studies and critical politic economy strategies are used instead of the modernized culture and neoliberal domination, cultures should be paramount. The suggestion about the sudden news of a tool (media) should aim the potential investors making the web the main marketing system and in this participation, consumers and producers exploit each other (Scholz 211). Google is the cooperation that specializes with cloud computing, owns the strongest search engine in the internet and an advertising firm in one. There are a few points where google can be criticized in this topic as they get the search and other rather personal data using rank alogarithm from the consumers of their products. The alogarithm is a secret and the search are of personal data which they in turn sell to people in different fields who would require the personal data in order for them to advertise. This is exploitation as this collection of personal data is surveillance and monitoring the users while personal information is no longer private. 50.12% which is approximately 1.05 billion people (about 15% of the human population) using internet google. We can therefore conclude that, google couldn’t exist without the consumers as the profit they earn is from the advertisement that they get from the personal data that they collect while they don’t compensate the users.
Exploitation by YouTube and Facebook
YouTube is owned by google and is ranked the third in the world for its trafficking web platform where different videos defying human rights have been posted earlier, example the death of Nedal Soltani in 2009 whose uncensored video was uploaded raising questions about the progressiveness of the media platform (Scholz 213). Search history and personal preferences are used by the platform to suggest and advertise while the consumer is not compensated as their data is being used. Facebook is the most popular social network in the world which can also be criticized due to its long-winded and complex privacy policies that are not fully transparent while the fans and users are dominated with entertainment thoughts, they are not used or involved in the decisions. They therefore they are corporate exploiters who underpay the users who upload the videos.
The Influence of Media on Politics and Economy
The internet has become a technological fetish that has direct influence to the post politics and in turn media being the major influence or tool has directly influenced and in turn influence the economy where some are under paid more to that, some get services for free by influence and therefore exploited and others ride on the others waves (Scholz 212). Basing the study on participatory democracy theory different people suggested that the internet today is a participatory advance an ideology that simply celebrates capitalism without putting into consideration that the capitalism interests entirely dominate and mold the internet. The world wide web 2.0 is not a system that allows users to take part and understood better, it is exploitive to the users.
Unpaid Reproductive Labor and the Music Industry
Different scholars also commented on the study stating that unpaid reproductive labor can be considered as an inner colony and milieu of primitive accumulation of capitalism and class of its own (Scholz 217). Another scholar uses the term ‘social worker’ to support the point that there is a widening gap of the proletariat which is the extension in the span of production and reproduction (Scholz 209). The audience in the media advertisement models are sold as a commodity to the advertising firms like Google and Facebook does. Another scholar says that there is a progressive thin line that separates the producer and the consumer (Fuchs 297). Other factors that arise with the emergence of changes in the media especially the music industry is the expansion in sale due to the rapid growth of the industry especially the last 25 years (Jian and Chang-de 526). This expansion has seen the problems grow slowly due to the online digital file exchange as music has changed or has the power to influence a society. Due to this changes, the music industry has reconfigured in order to fit the changes to maintain the profit. The financial benefit aims to reshape the façade of music production due to the advancement of digital technology. This changes and expansions have the media houses exploit the personnel’s involved by heavily under-paying which slowly kills the industry or discourage others in investing in the industry.
Exploitation of Artists and Labor in Television and Music
Media in general has a relation and a common factor in the world, the rapid growth of reality in TV in China differs from the rest of the world especially with the western countries. Its emergence was mainly as a response to the need of a commercial broadcaster and recording companies. The aftermath was obviously the expansion and the growth of the country’s GDP by 252% (Jian and Chang-de 527). The increase of the advertising expenditure saw the US and European broadcasters suffer reducing the production and profits. Despite that efficiency and growth of this marketing tools by the use of pay-per-download websites, membership-fee streaming services and cooperation with different media platforms to gain more profits in large has seen them benefit financially. All this financial gains have seen artist and different members being heavily and infinitely exploited in order for those different media houses and industries benefit.
The Role of Fans and Consumers in Media Exploitation
In the example of ‘Supergirl’ program in China, contestants, fans and the audience were also included in the labor force when they volunteered to promote different idols in the different social platforms like Facebook, twitter, YouTube, Myspace, Rapidshare, Flickr, Tagged, among others (Jian and Chang-de 527). This promotion was actually done for free meaning that different people benefitted from the media exchange at the expense of those who had done the task. The interactions see the consumers take part in the production of the show. The fans, therefore, have labored in the production as they spend a lot of time but won’t get the wage or pay hence, the service was free and those who benefited from the show haven’t entirely toiled alone. These fans function as free workers while texting and as a result the cellular services and phone companies significantly benefit from the free campaign that is entirely managed by free laborers.
The Significance of Digital Labor and Exploitation
Digital labor matters as the internet has become a major contributor as it allows exchange of data and information throughout the world, leading to growth in different markets. The media especially sees and relies on the internet, as it is easy to join and everyone can play a role in the system. Different individuals participate in the events online and one can discover the steady study of digital labor as a continuance of the social associations adjacent traditional workplace (Fuchs 290). While also exploring incoherence, shifts of labor markets in the internet are termed as an intensification of initial norm of economies of unpaid work. The well based study has been an in figment of worker protection where basics like minimum wages, health insurance are not catered for by their employees, example, being Amazon’s website automated Turk. One can therefore conclude that digital labor matters, the underpayment or the free occupation and involvement cannot be ignored once you think about cognitive capitalism.
The Exploitative Nature of Media and Opportunities for Democratic Planning
Various companies taking place in the trade in the commoner-owned majorly dominate the perfect competition in the market and avoid authorities or the laid measures in the set of a perfect market. They adopt open book management and do not abide by the rules of the market publicly signaling a negotiated coordination where there is production and distribution. This does not obviate a possible need for a democratic planning where there is citizen participation. This mainly affects the economy of a state or rather it creates a broad area for mutual alignment of productive capacities (Fuchs 297). The earlier market had initially, stated that the industrial labor movement had an association within the collective property opening up the peer production avenue for more distribution of property where the individuals freely aggregate that not only of their immaterial productive resources but of their vice versa. These conditions facilitate abuse and negative use of public and private property and are balanced by a specific of forking dynamic property. One can learn that the media exploits or facilitates the exploitation of individuals as it should ensure the participation and accessibility of the resources.
Media, Exploitation, and Manipulation
In conclusion, it is clear that media has a tendency to use various people across the globe for selfish gains. Google, Facebook, YouTube and other social platforms use personal data to promote their services and promote content but do not pay. This paper has explained and focused on the critical conditions of free or underpaid media labor and how they all relate to exploitation and manipulation.
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