http://blog.pulpculture.org/2005/11/06/bake-your-own-bread-n-circuses/
<http://blog.pulpculture.org/2005/11/06/bake-your-own-bread-n-circuses/>Bake your own bread-n-circuses
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But what I really want to get on is this notion that anyone was just standing there, idly looking the other way, while the Internets™ and the Webs™ got out of control and only recently did they decide to control it.
Horse puckey. "They" never did that. There has always been some big corporation or two or 556 that wanted a piece of the action. Big media did their damnedest, holding all kinds of conferences and doing all kinds of research on how these new technologies could best be used to line their pockets.
One of their first big dreams was to use technology to segment the population, delivering up content based on demographics -such as the way your Time magazine has a different cover depending on your zip code. What they were hoping for with the Internets™ was a way to do the very same thing, shuffling people into segments where they'd be served up appropriate content and advertising according to their demographic.
This way, they could make more money because advertising to people with the right disposable income would be more lucrative than advertising to those who don't have it. Instead of having to "eat it" in the days when you couldn't target as well, you can really price according to the target market. You didn't have to waste marketing money and advertising bucks on people you don't really think are worth your while.
Information. It's all about control, innit? (We already know this from post- (al) criticism of the history of the social sciences, the way sociology and anthropology was used to control populations, even if the researchers had no intention of doing so.)
But, back to the Big Media. Their plan was to sink a lot more money into developing content for those with the cash. People with money would get the high end stuff, people without it would get the low-end stuff.
If you read some of the dissertations that come out of the major tech unis, they are all about how to Make.Money.Fast.on.the.Internets. All the research on networking? It's all coming to bear fruit as people apply those concepts to things like LinkedIn, Frappr, you name it. We participate in it. We help them advertise. We help them market. We help them brand. We give you this "for FREE!" and you give us that and this and that over there.
It seems like we're making out. But, are we?
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http://blog.pulpculture.org/2005/11/06/bake-your-own-bread-n-circuses/
The Bitch | Lab
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