Douglas Rushkof's Generation Like Video

Link: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/generation-like/
Time: 55 minutes

Summary: Douglas Rushkoff followed several American teenagers to explore the complicated relationship between young consumers and the big-name brands that are constantly working to target them. Today, “likes,” “follows” and “shares” are the arbiters of cool. Now consumers are also the marketers, and teens are able to create and interact with culture in ways never before possible. These teens say that social media makes them feel empowered. For them, you are what you like. It is a part of their identity.
Companies know how to take that data, and turn it into money. The people who are handing over the data because they’re hitting like or they’re telling all their friends, "Will you please come like me?" don't know what the value of that is.
But, the efforts of a snack food or soft drink company to win “likes” and “follows” isn't seen as something to avoid or critique, but rather a self-promotional opportunity gain more likes for themselves. In fact, the more kids participate, the more they appear to absorb and express the values and agendas of the marketers. After all, the key to success is to bring a social media fan base along with you. Likes and views can be a ticket to fame, a path to a career or even way out of poverty
I want to see The Merchants of Cool which was Rushkoff's film from earlier talking about marketing  when corporations needs to chase down kids to find out whats cool and then market that tot them. Now, teens are putting themselves online for anyone to see. They tell the world what they think is cool starting with their own online profiles. Likes, follows, retweets, and favorites  have become the social currency of this generation.
I really enjoyed the video, it was very well made and the people in it have interesting stories. However, its also sad to me to see kids spending a large amount of their time on gaining followers and acting stupid for likes and popularity. I think that companies like The Audience are great and I aspire to work for people like them. I do agree that social media is very important and everyone needs an online presence in this time period. But, Rushkoff is right in that people especially teens need to be informed about the way this works and that they are doing marketing work for little to no money.

The history of relationship markers: In the early days, there was the Hit Economy. Information was linked through hits. Every hit and click represented a visitor of a particular web site and revenue was generated through banners. To increase traffic and value, webmasters would buy their way into the listings of search engines. In the late 1990′s, Google introduced the hyperlink as the new value determination mechanism. They weighed the quality and quantity of links using an algorithm. This is called the Link Economy. In the Link Economy, links lost their former function as central relationship markers and could now be traded and sold.

Like Economy: With the emergence of the Social Web, connections were massively made between people and between people and web objects. Digital devices such as social buttons were developed. The most prominent being the “Like” button. This button was made in February 2009 and shortly became integrated onto other web sites. The production, distribution and consumption of online content, thus, transform into a social activity as well as a value producing activity. This is what they call the Like Economy.

Facebook cookies: The cookie is placed on the user’s machine, even if the individual does not actively use the “Like” button. Facebook still manages to retrieve data on the individual user and their user activity. Additionally, the cookie does not merely trace Facebook users but also non-Facebook users, because the cookie is connected to an IP address not to one person’s identity.

Front vs back of social web: They distinguish between the "front" of the social web, or the interface of the social media platform where users interact with each other and upload content, and the "back" of the social web, the users cannot see the databases where all interactions, content and user data is stored and processed, for example, to make recommendations and to display targeted advertisements.

Central argument: Social media platforms set up a data-intensive infrastructure by decentralizing data collection through social plugins and recentralizing data-processing.

Reaction: The historical path to which we arrived at the like economy makes sense to me. I remember each of those times and how the internet functioned. The idea of the back social web, makes me unhappy. Cookies and targeted market have always bothered me. It’s invasive in that most people don’t know this is happening. The blindly go on Facebook and upload content, but they don’t know that the content is being processed in order to target them. I remember in my Persuasion class sophomore year when this was first pointed out to me, how annoyed I was. All of the advertisements on my Facebook, which I hadn’t looked at closely before, were all targeted to me. I agree with the authors that this system of likes spread throughout the internet is allowing for more data collection. It makes sense. I think that I would be less bothered if people understood that this was happening. Where will the internet go next?

The Circle by Dave Eggers

The Circle, published in 2013, depicts the life of a young tech worker named Mae Holland at a fictional San Francisco based technology company called The Circle in the near future. It starts out as an incredibly rewarding experience when then she begins to face doubts about her vocation due to the company's seemingly well-intentioned innovations revealing a more sinister underlying agenda.The time is somewhere in the not-too-distant future, the Three Wise Men who own and rule the Circle are recognizable as individuals living today. The company demands transparency in all things. Anonymity is banished; everyone’s past is revealed; every­one’s present may be broadcast live in video and sound. Nothing recorded will ever be erased. The reader sees as Mae becomes this rank obsessed person and very transparent during her time at the Circle. she allows her every wakign moment to be recorded and become a celebrity. Although, the reader identifies with Mae at the beginning of the book, the reader at the end realizes that she is not a victim but a dull villain. Her motivations are teenage-Internet petty: getting the highest ratings, moving into the center of the Circle, being popular. She presents a plan that will enclose the world within the Circle’s reach, but she exhibits no complex desire for power, only a longing for the approval of the Wise Men. She is more a high school mean girl than an evil opponent. She doesn't believe the serious consequences of her actions and seems to not care at some point about her disconnect with her parents as well as the death of her ex boyfriend. The final scene is chilling, where she seems to not be concerned for Annie's health condition but rather wants to invent a way to hear her thoughts. She ignored Ty, the creators asks for help and warning of problems with is own company and just continued doing what she is doing. I think Eggers is trying to address the problem with social media and how we are losing our privacy in this technological era. We don't have as strong connections with the people present in our lives because we are so engrossed with our social status. Certain things do need to be private and this novel really reminds us of that. At first, this company seems so amazing, especially in the way it is presented with facilities and perks for all the employees. As the story continues and more of the expectations and norms of working at the Circle are revealed, it becomes so revolting to me as a reader that I have a hard time understanding why Mae can learn to be happy with it. To be in constant communication with everyone and having that kind of pressure to always respond is so stressful. Its no wonder that Annie falls into a coma. This dystopia brings up a multitude of issues that have been talked before a fair amount before (especially in media classes) involving privacy and publicly presenting yourself on social media. I absolutely loved this book and hope to read more things like it.