The influence of social media in everyday life is increasing, causing an altering change in the dynamics of advertising. Previously, advertisers made ads based on their marketing research; hoping they made the right decisions to reach consumers, with no feedback from the public. With an increase in social media activity, advertisers are now collecting feedback from their customers, introducing us to Big Data. This enables advertisers to change their antics and reflect what is trending to appeal to more buyers. Social media users have bought into the illusion that they are in control of the online medium, but in actuality, they are pawns that supply free labor. Perhaps if they knew what social media allows to happen, they might reconsider using the websites. But that’s not true, awareness to this situation has increased dramatically over the years, yet users have only grown in response.
Some make the argument that social media can empower millennials, giving them a digital platform to alter their lives. To state an observation, these “free-laborers” often use this platform to show talents and/or express an opinion. Given the opportunity to have direct communication with celebrities and big-name companies, they dream to become famous by association with the greatest stars. It only takes one video ranging from ten seconds to one minute to do and go viral. However, this is only part of the illusion that allows the consumer to be manipulated into becoming the marketer; their hopes and dreams. Taken for granted, their hopes are overlooked, only their popularity and participation matters. The social currency of likes they receive is nothing compared to the millions that companies make by selling the Big Data they collect.
The trade-offs users make for fame by association is far greater than they realize. Ads become more personalized to the individual because of Big Data. But it gets worse. When carelessly accepting the terms and conditions associated with popular social media applications, users allow these corporations to track their location. Corporations know every move a consumer makes and can piece together their schedule. But don’t forget about the likes users make just yet. Those likes are the key to the entire operation. These likes collected by corporations aid in putting users into groups that dictate the type of content they become exposed to. Essentially, social media users are only what they like, and the more content they like the easier they are to target.
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