These Are Not The Internet Results You Are Looking For...
In our minds, the Internet is the true open marketplace for ideas. In this place, we can gather news information about the world around us, while also holding the capacity to order your groceries directly to your doorstep. But have you ever wondered, is the Internet ~actually~ free? Or thought, “Why is Instagram showing me ads for a product I searched on a completely different platform?” To answer your questions using the wise and alarming words of Admiral Ackbar in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, “It’s a Trap!”
Author and professor Matthew Hindman echoes a similar warning about the Internet in his book, The Internet Trap: How the Digitial Economy Builds Monopolies and Undermines Democracy, by uncovering the truth behind the real uses of the Internet. Hindman proclaims that the Internet is not as open and democratic as we believe it. Instead, it is controlled by a small handful of large corporations looking to generate as much monopolized internet distribution as possible. For example, Facebook boosts the exposure of your content only if you are willing to pay for it. The most notorious of this bunch is Google, which Hindman hones in on a great deal in relation to how large corporations monopolize and monetize users’ attention and interactions online.
Hindman states one of his leading principles for this book early on, “Digital survival depends on stickiness--firms’ ability to attract users, to get them to stay longer, and to make them return again and again (Hindman, 2018).” A major way companies can establish this “stickiness” is through personalization. The central theme of this book is understanding how the internet’s form gives rise to concentrations of power. Hindman sees personalization as a “...key tool for ensuring that a site maintains its web traffic (Hindman, 2018).” People want to use applications and systems that they can tailor and personalize to their needs and linking. Most of the time, the larger scale companies are more utilized than the smaller guys. For example, I decided to use Tumblr, a larger-scale social media platform, to create my blog post for class. Mainly because I was familiar with the structure and layout of the platform, but also because I could customize and tailor my profile more quickly than smaller-scale blogging outlets.
A major issue I see, and apparent that Hindman sees it as well, is the more personalization there is leads to more specific and complex algorithms. Hindman indicates that the internet “consistently favors those who have scale on their side.” Users with more followers and content engagement will typically perform better on social media because the algorithm prioritizes it. Think about if Kim Kardashian posted a picture of a blank piece of paper versus if I were to post the exact same picture at the exact same time. Who will have the most exposure and attention?? Well, that’s obvious, Ms. Kim K duh! That’s because the internet algorithm places her content above others because they know it will surely perform well and deliver greater economic value. Similar to if you google for a specific shirt you are shopping for online. If you simply enter what you are looking for into google, it will show you shirts from large-scale companies like gap or target instead of your local boutique down the road.
So coming full circle back to the original warning of Admiral Ackbar, the internet is just one large trap to suck users into supporting the bigger corporations and letting the smaller guys nearly fend for themselves.
