22 July

Here’s an example of how social media took over the world. It’s a bait-and-switch operation. First it offered us the bait of ways to ‘connect’ with our friends and family. It then sold us as data, to media companies and advertisers. That’s the switch. It baited these same companies by offering them us, our data, as targeted audiences. It then switched them, by restricting their capacity to use these platforms to run their businesses. The platforms became the only place they could really do business, and on the terms of the platform owners, not on their own terms. Now most news comes through social media, as we see in this story. Nobody uses newspapers now. But this is happening across every industry. Government itself is now being transacted through social media, the leading candidates in upcoming council elections for example mobilise through social media. We think only of the bait, and don’t notice the switch. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-22/newsagencies-decline-as-online-news-beats-print-media-newspapers/104117872?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=link