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ePaper created 2018-03-06, 08:52:14 | version 1.38.0
| opinion Facebook & Co.: Could 2018 be the death of digital advertising? Chris Barrow, UK In an article by business author Jaron Lanier in the Jan/ Feb 2018 edition of WIRED UK magazine, he reminds us that Facebook and Google now account for 75 per cent of online advertising spend, globally. In the same article, there is also a fascinating quote about the current prob- lems with the Internet. Lanier writes: “Something has gone very wrong: it’s the business model. Specifically, it’s what is called ad- vertising. We call it advertising, but that name in itself is misleading. It is really statistical behaviour-modifica- tion of the population in a stealthy way. Unlike (traditional advertising), which works via persuasion, this business model depends on manipulating people’s attention and their perceptions of choice. Every single penny Facebook makes is from doing that and 90 per cent of what Google makes is from doing that.” A prediction for 2018 is that Amazon is determined to get in on the act and carve out a major position for itself in the market. So, if like me, you were busy deleting a flurry of e-mails, between Christmas and New Year, invit- ing you to partake in all sorts of indulgence and expen- diture, please know that those e-mails and other social media messages were not reaching you by chance, but by design. We are all the targets of algorithms, created to watch over us as we surf the web, noting our habits, bookmark- ing what we watch or read, remembering where we lin- ger and what catches our attention for more than a few seconds—even anticipating our next move with creepy accuracy. The phrase “statistical behaviour-modification” has me thinking that we are all being assimilated into a “consumer Borg” (Star Trek fans will know what I mean). m o c . k c o t s e b o d A / w o r r a © 06 roots 1 2018