Archive for the ‘privacy’ Category
We believe this benefits you
I discussed the commercial basis of Web 2.0, particularly Facebook’s targeted advertising, at Reality 2.0 in Brisbane last week. I was sick and could not attend, but Jo from Toowoomba Library kindly read my paper for me. (Thank you Jo!) Facebook’s popularity is growing, but its commercial basis has inherent problems, which must be considered.
Venture capitalist and board member of Facebook, Peter Thiel, previously co-founded PayPal and said of it,
“You can find value not in real manufactured objects, but in the relations between human beings.” [1]
Facebook is the epitome of this thinking; it is the users and their connections which make money for the company. My fav author Tom Hodgkinson (everyone should read How to be Idle) is particularly scathing of the neocon origins of Facebook and believes,
“It makes nothing at all. It simply mediates in relationships that were happening anyway.” [1]
Though really, this could be said of many online ventures, and most of the capitalistic world we live in.
