A dystopian view of an internet designed by machines, and the mushy, emotional weapons we can use to fight back.
We now have seemingly god-like access to the ways people use our products. It’s like having an all-seeing eye gazing directly into the hearts and minds of our audience. We tool up our products with analytics and trackers, A/B test up the rectum, and scour the data for any patterns that emerge—always hunting for the skeleton key to increased engagement, conversion, and usability.
The best and worst thing about the information age is the ability and our penchant for sharing every damn thought that enters our minds. When designing, testing, and marketing our digital products, we feel compelled to blog our findings, tweet our opinions, and speak about the shit that works and doesn’t work. It doesn’t take long for opinions to morph from one organization’s experience, to industry-wide opinion, to black and white standards and best practices.