It goes without saying that the majority of content and
services on the internet are completely free for users: e-mail, social
networks, news portals… Yet have you ever thought 'why'? Maybe you pay for free
internet content a great deal more than you can imagine?
The illusion of “free”
Facebook,
Google, news website – this is a simplified version of most internet users'
everyday itinerary. This route is completely free and absolutely safe: you move
from one destination to another almost automatically. But what would happen if
one day you visited your favorite (free!) news portal and found out that you
were could not read a single article. Instead, you would be asked to pay if you
want to access the materials.
Your nice
walk would definitely be spoiled. “Why, for
God’s sake, do I have to pay for it?” – many users would exclaim. “Why can I
use Google or Facebook completely free? Who do the editors think they are,
asking me for money?” A lot of people think that those who work in such large
corporations, like Google or Facebook, are passionately dedicated and
enthusiastic volunteers, who everyday sacrifice themselves in the
name of “the user-oriented
internet”. Well, numbers speak louder than words: in 2014 the annual Facebook’s
profit was 12 billion dollars, Google – even more, 66 billion dollars. Do you
still believe in the “the user-oriented internet” mission?
Our news
portals can barely imagine such sums. “Not my problems, sorry” – a typical, brought up by the miracles of the free
internet user would state. “The fact that there are people who read their
portal is already a big achievement for them”. Such logic proves that users do
not realize that they are involved in the process of capital accummulation –
and in this “game” their role is truly unenviable. The internet, as a matter of
fact, is not a place where everyone is equal, but a hierarchical pyramid
governed by those at the top.
The Internet Pyramid
The
examples of Google and Facebook (there are much more of them) are the examples
of “those at the top”. They create the illusion of “free”. “So, what’s wrong with it?” – one more
possible question. Paradoxically may it be, but the root of the problem is
nothing but the fact that everything is (at first sight) free.
To prove yourself that
“everything is free” is a mere illusions you may wonder how come these “free”
services get so much money. The rule is simple: if you do not pay, somebody
else does. This somebody is not a generous daddy, ready to pay his last cent so
that you could scroll through your news feed on Facebook or find where to spend
your evening on Google. This somebody is… advertising.
To clear it up, if the websites
dictate the rules from the top of the pyramid, advertising is its owner, who
create these rules. Were you looking for the place to have dinner? Awesome!
Google will offer you a bunch of romantic venues so you would for sure find
what you had been looking for. Is that all? Sure it is not: the next time you
will be scrolling through your news feed, you will (surprise-surprise!) stumble
into the pictures of the place you have visited, sending you quite a linear
message: visit us again! Alternatively, you can see the pictures of other
places, implying that it is high time you went somewhere out. It is the first
trap of “the illusion of free” –
you are tracked and your personal information is used without your permission.
The second
trap is even more dangerous – probably you do not even know that but you are a
means to produce capital for websites placed at the top of the pyramid. Yes,
nobody pays your for that. The stolen information is used to steal your
attention – and it is advertising that does it. Ads are everywhere: on your
personal page, in your news feed, in search engines, even in your e-mail –
nobody warned you about it and nobody asked whether you allow to use your
personal details for such purposes. Google and Facebook made this decision on
your behalf and on behalf of millions of other people: well, guys, we provide
our services for free, we neglect your attention and get our billions for that.
As simple as ABC.
Just use
the services Google, Facebook and others offer you for free. But is it fair?
How the audience is transformed into traffic
The
mechanism of exploitation on news websites is even more uncanny. If before the
internet was a promise of the platform where everyone is equal, everyone can
express their opinion (and would definitely be heard), where local and global
problems are solved cooperatively, and accessible to all people media foster
civil society, today, as so much time has passed, this only puts a sad smile on
our faces. All of the mentioned goals could be achieved only on condition that
a human being would be respected. From the very moment you open the news
portal, you are not a human being anymore – you become a part of traffic.
“But is it
so? I can comment, argue with others, finally, I can stop visiting this site!” – one might argue. It is true, but,
unfortunately, your opinion and arguments you provide are no big deal: in the
existing system you are either 1, or 0 – either you are, or you are not. This
is one more trap of “the illusion of free” – the illusion of participation. You
are nothing but 1 – and there are plenty of such 1s. You are neither a client
nor a user, you are never right nor are you wrong, you are just a figure, a
part of traffic. And yes, you got it right: your favorite news portal everyday
sells you to advertisers stealing your attention.
Should we
blame the owners of news portals for it? No. In such a system they have no
choice. Should we blame journalists for a low-quality, ill-prepared and
sometimes even silly content? No, they do their job as long as the results
satisfy their employer – advertising. You visit the site – you become 1, you
read the material – once more time, you become 1, you like or do not like what
you have read and you have decided to share your thoughts – yes, you become 1. The
quality means nothing in the pyramid, what really matters is quantity, your
attention, you as 1, which can be easily converted into bucks.
The
outcome is that journalism as the fourth power does not perform its main social
function – to inform the society and form its self-consciousness.
Instead, it offers the illusion of participation which is, as we know, a
traffic generation tactic to attract advertisers. So, do you agree to hand over
power to unfair advertising?
The system must be reformed
As we can
see, a safe walk on the internet can be potentially dangerous: advertising
steals your personal data as well as your attention, corrupts quality
journalism, transforming it into one of its manipulation tools. Yet we can
change this. We need to get rid of “the illusion of free”.
First and
foremost, paid subscription has to be brought back (as it was with newspapers).
We need to understand that, as long as somebody else pays for us, somebody else
decides who you are and what you will read. To bring back paid subscription
means to rehabilitate quality analytic journalist and to give back journalism
its legitimate power. Paying for the content, you become one of the responsible
for the news portal. While journalists will be motivated to meet high
standards, you will get only high-quality content.
Second, we
need to change how advertising works and is perceived by others. APM Agentur (www.adpays.me) has already been doing that, trying to change the
existing advertising system.
We provide
everyone who joins us the APM Board – Own Advertising Board, where users see
only those advertisements they personally are interested in, and only when they
wish to. Most importantly, we believe that every user is a human being, for
this reason advertisers, who have chosen our website, will pay you 90% of the
cost of the ad you will see.
We are
against pyramids and labels put on us by the owners of the pyramid. Advertising
is not by nature evil, it is a helpful tool for you to find what you need.
Journalism is not a traffic generator, it is an essential social institution,
which has to be financed by those for whom it works. Trust us: to create the
user-oriented internet, the internet where you respect others and others
respect you is still not too late.