It's a bummer that these unethical tactics continue to work. They should offer a bounty for people who report cases that are successfully pursued, like for tax evasion or whistleblowing more generally.
That would lead to a slew of possible cases and a greater fear of getting caught. If people are willing to go on the record saying they're not worried about it, then they are really not worried about it.
Good to know, but is it ever punished, either by the FTC or by consumer backlash? As long as the expected value is positive, companies will keep doing it.
I don't think so. I think the reddit posts are essentially complaining into the void. Instead of posting them on reddit I guess people should be submitting to the FTC etc!
Every single app/service/"community"/whatever which is based around total optimization of your "algorithm", ie, total optimization of owning your eyeballs being in that app, are working in an attention economy.
The purchaser of attention with the biggest pockets has always been advertising and always will be. Almost nothing else needs to pay for attention.
As a rule, nothing you would really enjoy or like should need to pay for your attention.
Short form content, both microblogging and short videos, is this. It's just about capturing your eyeballs and streaming whatever someone else pays for directly into your brain. It's so absurdly profitable to be able to just auction off the screen you've glued your eyeballs to that every TV manufacturer has pivoted to exactly that business model and has profited handsomely.
I can't understand why so many people don't intuitively feel this like I do, and do not naturally recoil in disgust the way I do to these things. Don't you feel how empty and vacuous this media format is? Don't you feel repulsed by how mechanical it feels? Can't you notice the "structure" of the format and how content agnostic it is? The creators you think you care about are nothing more than a light coat of paint over the actual medium of anger and fear and hatred that captures your attention.
How do people not feel the constant drain of advertising on their mental effort like I do?
I'm not smart or special or anything. Why do I have this reaction, when normal people seem to have a strongly addictive reaction instead?
I mostly agree. good things often have to buy attention just to be found. I am very suspicious of things that pay for it attention continuously. The extreme influencers have their entire life become adspace.The gross part is its dressed up like a friend telling you about their day.
this one food guy i follow really loves eating out. and this might be the only way he can afford to do it every day. but the entire setup rewards never saying anything negative.. so i can't ever take his recommendations seriously.
It's a bummer that these unethical tactics continue to work. They should offer a bounty for people who report cases that are successfully pursued, like for tax evasion or whistleblowing more generally.
That would lead to a slew of possible cases and a greater fear of getting caught. If people are willing to go on the record saying they're not worried about it, then they are really not worried about it.
It's regularly identified and called out on reddit- here are a few recent examples:
Influencers with undisclosed kiwi ads: https://www.reddit.com/r/NYCinfluencersnark/comments/1vqtrso...
Chewy.com ad disclosed on IG but not on tiktok: https://www.reddit.com/r/NYCinfluencersnark/comments/1v5e74u...
GAP ad not disclosed: https://www.reddit.com/r/NYCinfluencersnark/comments/1vftwoi...
https://www.reddit.com/r/BeautyGuruChatter/comments/1wbk2bd/...
Good to know, but is it ever punished, either by the FTC or by consumer backlash? As long as the expected value is positive, companies will keep doing it.
I don't think so. I think the reddit posts are essentially complaining into the void. Instead of posting them on reddit I guess people should be submitting to the FTC etc!
Goddamn kiwi ads wasting my time in the time-wasting app!
https://archive.ph/kBMCZ
Every single app/service/"community"/whatever which is based around total optimization of your "algorithm", ie, total optimization of owning your eyeballs being in that app, are working in an attention economy.
The purchaser of attention with the biggest pockets has always been advertising and always will be. Almost nothing else needs to pay for attention.
As a rule, nothing you would really enjoy or like should need to pay for your attention.
Short form content, both microblogging and short videos, is this. It's just about capturing your eyeballs and streaming whatever someone else pays for directly into your brain. It's so absurdly profitable to be able to just auction off the screen you've glued your eyeballs to that every TV manufacturer has pivoted to exactly that business model and has profited handsomely.
I can't understand why so many people don't intuitively feel this like I do, and do not naturally recoil in disgust the way I do to these things. Don't you feel how empty and vacuous this media format is? Don't you feel repulsed by how mechanical it feels? Can't you notice the "structure" of the format and how content agnostic it is? The creators you think you care about are nothing more than a light coat of paint over the actual medium of anger and fear and hatred that captures your attention.
How do people not feel the constant drain of advertising on their mental effort like I do?
I'm not smart or special or anything. Why do I have this reaction, when normal people seem to have a strongly addictive reaction instead?
I mostly agree. good things often have to buy attention just to be found. I am very suspicious of things that pay for it attention continuously. The extreme influencers have their entire life become adspace.The gross part is its dressed up like a friend telling you about their day.
this one food guy i follow really loves eating out. and this might be the only way he can afford to do it every day. but the entire setup rewards never saying anything negative.. so i can't ever take his recommendations seriously.
Everything on TikTok is curated you make you believe something. Best you don't install or use the app.
Yes, as I told my daughter, TikTok (or any social media app for that matter) is like heroin. Better not start taking it because it’s too addictive