One of the concepts in Chapter 4 and 5 that I found most interesting is McChesney's idea that capitalism conquered the Internet. He wrote that for the first two decades of its existence, the Internet was "singularly noncommercial, even anti-commercial" (97). However with more and more large corporations, monopolistic markets, advertising, public relations and close relationships with the government and the military, the Internet transformed into a capitalistic force.
One of the key ways in which McChesney believes capitalism conquered the Internet is through advertising. Advertising became so important to digital corporation giants because they wanted a way to bring money in in order to compete in their market. Advertising, especially online advertising, continues to be a key way in which large corporations continue to bring in money. Corporations have taken note of how much time we spend on the Internet, and have used that to their advantage. McChesney writes that in the 1990s no one complained much about a "lack of advertising on the Internet, or a shortage of advertising anywhere else for that matter,"( 146) but today, most people view ads negatively. Today, it is even hard to think of a time when the Internet was commercial free. The development of cookies and other technologies transformed Internet advertising. With cookies and online tracking, advertisers were able to track users tastes and advertise specifically to their needs and interests. Advertisers have also used personal information users post on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter in order to reach consumers on a more personal and specific level. I see these cookies and tracking techniques in action everyday on my Facebook page. Every time I search something or shop online, there is an ad from that company or store almost immediately.
Recently though, online advertising has been vulnerable to hackers. In an attempt to stop hackers from interfering with online advertising, Google has purchased the fraud detection company Spider. Google wants to make online advertising safer and more profitable for advertisers. Google’s goal is to make advertising with the site more reliable, which will increase the cost of placing ads on Google.
Overall, McChesney's capitalistic Internet will continue to be dominated by a few key players. Large corporations like Google are doing whatever it takes in order to dominate their market. Google makes profits off of advertising, so purchasing Spider will help increase ads on Google thus increasing revenues. The 1990's Internet McChesney described seems like a different world. I am really curious to see how the Internet continues to develop in this technological world.
I agree with your post, Nora. I also thought the advertising part of the reading was the most interesting. I'm glad that you brought up cookies. I for one don't like the idea of cookies, and it seems that most other people do not either. McChesney states that a 2008 survey found that 93 percent of people thought Internet companies should ask for permission before using personal information, and "72 percent wanted the right to opt out of online tracking" (151). Some companies began offering customers a Do Not Track option which made them think that tracking for advertising would stop, but it actually only limits some targeted advertising. This along with the article you posted about Google trying to make sites better for advertisers just shows that these big name companies care more about making millions or billions of dollars more from advertisers instead of taking their customers' needs into account since customers clearly do not like the fact that they are tracked just for advertising. It just further shows that the Internet is more about making money for the dominant companies rather than making the best for users everywhere.
ReplyDeleteJordan, thanks for your comment. I completely agree with you. I do not like the idea of cookies either. It freaks me out when I see super specific ads on my Facebook page. If 93% of people felt so strongly about cookies in 2008, I really think that number would increase today because the amount of Internet ads has certainly increased since then. Even though it is clear consumers do not like these ads, large companies don't care because these ads are very profitable. I agree that these online advertising techniques show how the Internet is more about making money.
DeleteI really liked this chapter about internet advertising. If there's one thing America's history has shown us through the years, it's that when businesses see an opportunity to profit from something, they won't hesitate to do so. With the internet we were given a whole new playing field for advertising, where every web page has the potential to be a site for advertising. I remember the days when YouTube was ad free, and then Google bought it out for around 2 billion dollars. While that is a big price to pay, the money that Google now makes from advertising on YouTube videos will assuredly pay off that amount, if it already hasn't. And that isn't to say that internet advertising is all evil. In fact, it helps keep a lot of website free of charge to use. So while it is certainly annoying to have to wait 10 seconds or so for the "skip ad" button to pop up on a video, I think people would be more upset if they had to pay 10 bucks a month to use YouTube as well. And online advertising is only getting bigger and bigger, as businesses continue to try and find ways to market their products effectively on the internet. In fact, these days it's all about just getting people to click links, so that's why you see crazy headlines on every link. Next time you're surfing the web, notice all the ads on the sides of the pages.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment John! You bring up a great point. I did my literary review for Media & Society on online advertising and most of the research that I found negatively viewed online advertising techniques, but I do agree that there are some positive aspects of online ads as well. I never really thought about the way online ads make websites more accessible to users. Although waiting for the "skip ad" option is sometimes annoying, it is worth waiting instead of having to pay to access a particular video or site.
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