Are Sites Like Digg, YouTube And MySpace Still Exploitation If People Get What They Want?
from the non-monetary-payments dept
There's a fascinating discussion going on among some bloggers today, concerning some research about how the top 10 domains online get a larger percentage of traffic today than they did five years ago -- supposedly countering Fred Wilson's claim that "the long tail" of web pages was increasingly important. However, as you dig into the numbers, it becomes clear that Wilson's point still does stand. Most of that increase in traffic is actually due to MySpace and YouTube, which aren't "properties" by themselves so much as they are a playground sandbox for millions of others to set up their own individual sites -- representing an even longer tail of content that just happens to be place within the walls of specific sites.Nick Carr, as per usual, cuts through the clutter in pointing this out -- but then goes on to make some questionable assertions about how this is a modern form of sharecropping -- whereby the "land owner" aggregator sites like MySpace and YouTube are somehow exploiting the "sharecropper" users, who are willing to create content for those sites for nothing. Carr attributes this to the difference between the "attention economy" and the "cash economy" and seems surprised that the two overlap -- suggesting that Carr actually hasn't been paying much attention. There aren't separate economies at all. They've always overlapped and always will. What's really going on is a recognition that not everything needs to be paid for in monetary terms (which isn't a new concept). It's not that the users are somehow being "exploited" by being tricked into giving up value in exchange for attention. They are making the choice and recognizing the benefit. The attention is a benefit to them. It is payment -- not exploitation. This is the same mistake that others have made in claiming that Google is somehow exploiting sites by organizing and pointing people to those sites -- while making money in the process. Once again, that's a case where Google is providing some benefit (traffic, or if you must, attention) to those sites. Those who complain about the lack of monetary payment are under the same delusion as Carr, that benefits like attention are somehow separate from the cash-based economy. Just because some of the direct benefits are not in cash, doesn't mean that one side is any more exploited than the other.
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Exploited???
*shrug* Ooookkkkkkaaaaayyyy.... Exploit away.
First Post! (I have been exploited by my desire to have first post and added content freely to this site. Woe is me.)
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You cant the willing
If youre willing to work for low wages and take a job at generi burger joint youre not exploited.
If youre willing to sign contract that give away the money you make company X youre not exploited.
If youre willing to strip for money youre not exploited.
If you create content in the public eye, and a aggregation or search or social networking site links to you youre not being exploited.
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Re: You cant the willing
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Re: Re: You cant the willing
A slave may revolt against his master.
A citizen may rise up against his government.
A laborer may seek employment elsewhere.
Maybe we feel like we should never have been put in said situation but it is always within our power to change our station.
I think the term 'exploitation' in the article above was certainly quite malapropos.
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Re: Re: Re: You cant the willing
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Choices
You cant call it exploitation because you dont have a choice but to work under those conditions. Its because you are lazy to look for better opportunities and work towards achieving them.
Back to the article; creative bloggers who want to get paid for their creativity would actually use platforms such as YouTube to 'advertize' their creativity.
I hate people who want free money.
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Re: Choices
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Re: Choices
Those who have read Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" will understand my point.
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Re: Re: Choices
It is clear, however, that inefficiencies in the job market along with people's varied life experiences, educational acheivements, connections, and mental capacity all combine to allow for the existance of economic exploitation.
But that doesn't matter when we're talking about YouTube. Video sharing is completely voluntary and even if it wasn't somehow, YouTube is not the only game in town. Unlike the job market, the video sharing website market is extremely transparent and open. You can get a "job" with YouTube, Revver, MetaCafe, etc. etc. etc. None of those sites hold you to any sort of exclusivity agreement. Also unlike the (standard) job market, it is often beneficial to your online video career to act like a complete idiot.
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Re: Re: Choices
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yea boiiii
all yhall are just tech nerds nd i be smackin all yo wives asses fo real
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Re: yea boiiii
why don't you try to learn english before start posting whatever cross your mind, if you have one...
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Re: Re: yea boiiii
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WHO KNOWS -- THE FACT IS -- SYNERGY OF THE INTERNET AND ADVERT --- WILL DIE -- AND WITH THAT --- THE PRICE OF YOUTUBE AND MYSPACE BECAUSE THEY WONT BE MAKING ANY MONEYYYYYYYYYYYY
WHERE ELSE DOES THEIR MONEY COME FROM --- NOWHEREE!!!!!!!!
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Re:
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Collaboration/idea sharing and traffic.
I talked about idea sharing as a way to increase traffic to your web site a little while ago on my site, which relates to this point.
I don't really see how anyone is being exploited through the creation of a dialogue -- it often creates a situation where there is mutual benefit.
Also, I always get a little worried when people start talking about geographic metaphors and the web. With real land, it's a zero sum game: if you don't own the land, someone else (whether that's government or a private party) will. The web is simply not the same. It's not a zero sum game: we can all create as many sites as we want, without driving up the cost for others to create more properties.
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and what type of personal benefits from a web site whose sole purpose is attention towards that person?
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Re:
Ummm... didn't you just answer your own question?
The person that has the website gets the attention they crave, the person that looks at the website satisfies their voyeuristic tendencies. Pretty simple.
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Who's exploiting who?
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@ painted zebra
With all this said, I have to disagree with you 100%. I hear my relatives and friends bitch and whine about the shitty life they have, then roll over with their bag of Doritos and Mountain Dew for breakfast and flip through the channels until they find Jerry Springer INSTEAD of maybe working on their resume, or looking for a new job, or taking a 3 credit class at the local community college (which can be FREE if, again, you keep your eyes open).
I can't say for certain whether or not this applies to anywhere outside my own little world, though common sense seems to indicate that it SHOULD. Anyone who has to leech off the government (ie: welfare), and more importantly those who don't even care to do that, but have a terrible quality of life ARE NOT given "no opportunities," in fact, by simply LIVING you are given an unlimited source of possibilities. Dismissing it as "difficult to break from" or "status quo" is simply an excuse, and I'm sick of hearing people bitch. Do something about it!
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Ah, so this is where the Yahoo Trolls have come to
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yeah boiiiiiii
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Re: Re:
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yeahhh boiiiii
ps: Yhall betta watch out Da Pope be usin his Rope on yo bitch!
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1. 'I', referring to yourself, is spelt with a capital letter. 'I' and not 'i'. If there was a problem with your Caps Lock or Shift keys I could excuse you but your use of capitals in the rest of your message indicates mere laziness. Laziness is a blight on society, It's your responsibility to stamp out laziness now.
2. `cuz' `adn' `yhall' `boiii' and `ballllinnnn' have no meaning and a word with no meaning is called a 'not a word'. When using English one should refrain from using 'not a word's as it is often difficult to explain what they are owing to their inexplicability.
3. 'Da' is the Russian word for 'yes' and, in English, it is also a 'not a word'. The correct form for what I believe you were trying to say is 'the'
4. Punctuation is what separates us from guinea pigs. Commas, full stops, and all the other grammatical inventions are why we humans rule the planet. When you fail to use correct punctuation you advance the onset of the destruction of Earth. Your teachers may hide this fact from you but it's true. If you want to live in a future world with flying houses and teleportation bread then please give a thought to the humble semi-colon every now and then.
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Need $$$ ?? Want $$$ ?? Need A Website ?? Do You K
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hey......
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LLLL
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