by
Lee McGuigan
View all notes
We purposely describe these practices as surveillance, as this highlights the focused and sustained collection of personal information (Lyon 2001). Our discussions are also intended to further the conception that the use of social media constitutes a form of participatory (Albrechstlund 2008) or collaborative (Pridmore 2013) surveillance. Of course this connects with what has been described as a political economy of personal information (Gandy 1993; cf. Gandy 2009) or the personal information economy (Elmer 2004; Pridmore 2013). In addition, the use of social media for marketing purposes can also be seen as aligned with the study of audience labor (Smythe 1981) and political economic concerns in the age of new media (Dyer-Witheford 1999).
good way of framing it, possibly useful as references
[...] businesses "listen" to social media in order to: find out how consumers interpret their brands; obtain a high-resolution and constantly updated understanding of the market; invest less capital for better feedback; identify key influencers in social media; effectively identify and manage public relations crises; and generate new product and marketing ideas [...]
nothing new here but good summary that nicely illustrates how morally bankrupt and useless marketing has become (as an institution). just so systemically detached from the purpose of actually producing useful goods that people need (shear, gap, slippage)