#app store marketing

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Subprime gadgets

I'm on tour with my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me THIS SUNDAY in ANAHEIM at WONDERCON: YA Fantasy, Room 207, 10 a.m.; Signing, 11 a.m.; Teaching Writing, 2 p.m., Room 213CD.

The promise of feudal security: "Surrender control over your digital life so that we, the wise, giant corporation, can ensure that you aren't tricked into catastrophic blunders that expose you to harm":

https://locusmag.com/2021/01/cory-doctorow-neofeudalism-and-the-digital-manor/

The tech giant is a feudal warlord whose platform is a fortress; move into the fortress and the warlord will defend you against the bandits roaming the lawless land beyond its walls.

That's the promise, here's the failure: What happens when the warlord decides to attack you? If a tech giant decides to do something that harms you, the fortress becomes a prison and the thick walls keep you in.

Apple does this all the time: "click this box and we will use our control over our platform to stop Facebook from spying on you" (Ios as fortress). "No matter what box you click, we will spy on you and because we control which apps you can install, we can stop you from blocking our spying" (Ios as prison):

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/14/luxury-surveillance/#liar-liar

But it's not just Apple – any corporation that arrogates to itself the right to override your own choices about your technology will eventually yield to temptation, using that veto to help itself at your expense:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/28/microincentives-and-enshittification/

Once the corporation puts the gun on the mantelpiece in Act One, they're begging their KPI-obsessed managers to take it down and shoot you in the head with it in anticipation of of their annual Act Three performance review:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/12/08/playstationed/#tyler-james-hill

One particularly pernicious form of control is "trusted computing" and its handmaiden, "remote attestation." Broadly, this is when a device is designed to gather information about how it is configured and to send verifiable testaments about that configuration to third parties, even if you want to lie to those people:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/08/your-computer-should-say-what-you-tell-it-say-1

New HP printers are designed to continuously monitor how you use them – and data-mine the documents you print for marketing data. You have to hand over a credit-card in order to use them, and HP reserves the right to fine you if your printer is unreachable, which would frustrate their ability to spy on you and charge you rent:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/02/hp-wants-you-to-pay-up-to-36-month-to-rent-a-printer-that-it-monitors/

Under normal circumstances, this technological attack would prompt a defense, like an aftermarket mod that prevents your printer's computer from monitoring you. This is "adversarial interoperability," a once-common technological move:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/10/adversarial-interoperability

An adversarial interoperator seeking to protect HP printer users from HP could gin up fake telemetry to send to HP, so they wouldn't be able to tell that you'd seized the means of computation, triggering fines charged to your credit card.

Enter remote attestation: if HP can create a sealed "trusted platform module" or a (less reliable) "secure enclave" that gathers and cryptographically signs information about which software your printer is running, HP can detect when you have modified it. They can force your printer to rat you out – to spill your secrets to your enemy.

Remote attestation is already a reliable feature of mobile platforms, allowing agencies and corporations whose services you use to make sure that you're perfectly defenseless – not blocking ads or tracking, or doing anything else that shifts power from them to you – before they agree to communicate with your device.

What's more, these "trusted computing" systems aren't just technological impediments to your digital wellbeing – they also carry the force of law. Under Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, these snitch-chips are "an effective means of access control" which means that anyone who helps you bypass them faces a $500,000 fine and a five-year prison sentence for a first offense.

Feudal security builds fortresses out of trusted computing and remote attestation and promises to use them to defend you from marauders. Remote attestation lets them determine whether your device has been compromised by someone seeking to harm you – it gives them a reliable testament about your device's configuration even if your device has been poisoned by bandits:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/12/05/trusting-trust/#thompsons-devil

The fact that you can't override your computer's remote attestations means that you can't be tricked into doing so. That's a part of your computer that belongs to the manufacturer, not you, and it only takes orders from its owner. So long as the benevolent dictator remains benevolent, this is a protective against your own lapses, follies and missteps. But if the corporate warlord turns bandit, this makes you powerless to stop them from devouring you whole.

With that out of the way, let's talk about debt.

Debt is a normal feature of any economy, but today's debt plays a different role from the normal debt that characterized life before wages stagnated and inequality skyrocketed. 40 years ago, neoliberalism – with its assaults on unions and regulations – kicked off a multigenerational process of taking wealth away from working people to make the rich richer.

Have you ever watched a genius pickpocket like Apollo Robbins work? When Robins lifts your wristwatch, he curls his fingers around your wrist, expertly adding pressure to simulate the effect of a watchband, even as he takes away your watch. Then, he gradually releases his grip, so slowly that you don't even notice:

https://www.reddit.com/r/nextfuckinglevel/comments/ppqjya/apollo_robbins_a_master_pickpocket_effortlessly/

For the wealthy to successfully impoverish the rest of us, they had to provide something that made us feel like we were still doing OK, even as they stole our wages, our savings, and our futures. So, even as they shipped our jobs overseas in search of weak environmental laws and weaker labor protection, they shared some of the savings with us, letting us buy more with less. But if your wages keep stagnating, it doesn't matter how cheap a big-screen TV gets, because you're tapped out.

So in tandem with cheap goods from overseas sweatshops, we got easy credit: access to debt. As wages fell, debt rose up to fill the gap. For a while, it's felt OK. Your wages might be falling off, the cost of health care and university might be skyrocketing, but everything was getting cheaper, it was so easy to borrow, and your principal asset – your family home – was going up in value, too.

This period was a "bezzle," John Kenneth Galbraith's name for "The magic interval when a confidence trickster knows he has the money he has appropriated but the victim does not yet understand that he has lost it." It's the moment after Apollo Robbins has your watch but before you notice it's gone. In that moment, both you and Robbins feel like you have a watch – the world's supply of watch-derived happiness actually goes up for a moment.

There's a natural limit to debt-fueled consumption: as Michael Hudson says, "debts that can't be paid, won't be paid." Once the debtor owes more than they can pay back – or even service – creditors become less willing to advance credit to them. Worse, they start to demand the right to liquidate the debtor's assets. That can trigger some pretty intense political instability, especially when the only substantial asset most debtors own is the roof over their heads:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/06/the-end-of-the-road-to-serfdom/

"Debts that can't be paid, won't be paid," but that doesn't stop creditors from trying to get blood from our stones. As more of us became bankrupt, the bankruptcy system was gutted, turned into a punitive measure designed to terrorize people into continuing to pay down their debts long past the point where they can reasonably do so:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/09/bankruptcy-protects-fake-people-brutalizes-real-ones/

Enter "subprime" – loans advanced to people who stand no meaningful chance of every paying them back. We all remember the subprime housing bubble, in which complex and deceptive mortgages were extended to borrowers on the promise that they could either flip or remortgage their house before the subprime mortgages detonated when their "teaser rates" expired and the price of staying in your home doubled or tripled.

Subprime housing loans were extended on the belief that people would meekly render themselves homeless once the music stopped, forfeiting all the money they'd plowed into their homes because the contract said they had to. For a brief minute there, it looked like there would be a rebellion against mass foreclosure, but then Obama and Timothy Geithner decreed that millions of Americans would have to lose their homes to "foam the runways" for the banks:

https://wallstreetonparade.com/2012/08/how-treasury-secretary-geithner-foamed-the-runways-with-childrens-shattered-lives/

That's one way to run a subprime shop: offer predatory loans to people who can't afford them and then confiscate their assets when they – inevitably – fail to pay their debts off.

But there's another form of subprime, familiar to loan sharks through the ages: lend money at punitive interest rates, such that the borrower can never repay the debt, and then terrorize the borrower into making payments for as long as possible. Do this right and the borrower will pay you several times the value of the loan, and still owe you a bundle. If the borrower ever earns anything, you'll have a claim on it. Think of Americans who borrowed $79,000 to go to university, paid back $190,000 and still owe $236,000:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/12/04/kawaski-trawick/#strike-debt

This kind of loan-sharking is profitable, but labor-intensive. It requires that the debtor make payments they fundamentally can't afford. The usurer needs to get their straw right down into the very bottom of the borrower's milkshake and suck up every drop. You need to convince the debtor to sell their wedding ring, then dip into their kid's college fund, then steal their father's coin collection, and, then break into cars to steal the stereos. It takes a lot of person-to-person work to keep your sucker sufficiently motivated to do all that.

This is where digital meets subprime. There's $1T worth of subprime car-loans in America. These are pure predation: the lender sells a beater to a mark, offering a low down-payment loan with a low initial interest rate. The borrower makes payments at that rate for a couple of months, but then the rate blows up to more than they can afford.

Trusted computing makes this marginal racket into a serious industry. First, there's the ability of the car to narc you out to the repo man by reporting on its location. Tesla does one better: if you get behind in your payments, your Tesla immobilizes itself and phones home, waits for the repo man to come to the parking lot, then it backs itself out of the spot while honking its horn and flashing its lights:

https://tiremeetsroad.com/2021/03/18/tesla-allegedly-remotely-unlocks-model-3-owners-car-uses-smart-summon-to-help-repo-agent/

That immobilization trick shows how a canny subprime car-lender can combine the two kinds of subprime: they can secure the loan against an asset (the car), but also coerce borrowers into prioritizing repayment over other necessities of life. After your car immobilizes itself, you just might decide to call the dealership and put down your credit card, even if that means not being able to afford groceries or child support or rent.

One thing we can say about digital tools: they're flexible. Any sadistic motivational technique a lender can dream up, a computerized device can execute. The subprime car market relies on a spectrum of coercive tactics: cars that immobilize themselves, sure, but how about cars that turn on their speakers to max and blare a continuous recording telling you that you're a deadbeat and demanding payment?

https://archive.nytimes.com/dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/09/24/miss-a-payment-good-luck-moving-that-car/

The more a subprime lender can rely on a gadget to torment you on their behalf, the more loans they can issue. Here, at last, is a form of automation-driven mass unemployment: normally, an economy that has been fully captured by wealthy oligarchs needs squadrons of cruel arm-breakers to convince the plebs to prioritize debt service over survival. The infinitely flexible, tireless digital arm-breakers enabled by trusted computing have deprived all of those skilled torturers of their rightful employment:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/02/innovation-unlocks-markets/#digital-arm-breakers

The world leader in trusted computing isn't cars, though – it's phones. Long before anyone figured out how to make a car take orders from its manufacturer over the objections of its driver, Apple and Google were inventing "curating computing" whose app stores determined which software you could run and how you could run it.

Back in 2021, Indian subprime lenders hit on the strategy of securing their loans by loading borrowers' phones up with digital arm-breaking software:

https://restofworld.org/2021/loans-that-hijack-your-phone-are-coming-to-india/

The software would gather statistics on your app usage. When you missed a payment, the phone would block you from accessing your most frequently used app. If that didn't motivate you to pay, you'd lose your second-most favorite app, then your third, fourth, etc.

This kind of digital arm-breaking is only possible if your phone is designed to prioritize remote instructions – from the manufacturer and its app makers – over your own. It also only works if the digital arm-breaking company can confirm that you haven't jailbroken your phone, which might allow you to send fake data back saying that your apps have been disabled, while you continue to use those apps. In other words, this kind of digital sadism only works if you've got trusted computing and remote attestation.

Enter "Device Lock Controller," an app that comes pre-installed on some Google Pixel phones. To quote from the app's description: "Device Lock Controller enables device management for credit providers. Your provider can remotely restrict access to your device if you don't make payments":

https://lemmy.world/post/13359866

Google's pitch to Android users is that their "walled garden" is a fortress that keeps people who want to do bad things to you from reaching you. But they're pre-installing software that turns the fortress into a prison that you can't escape if they decide to let someone come after you.

There's a certain kind of economist who looks at these forms of automated, fine-grained punishments and sees nothing but a tool for producing an "efficient market" in debt. For them, the ability to automate arm-breaking results in loans being offered to good, hardworking people who would otherwise be deprived of credit, because lenders will judge that these borrowers can be "incentivized" into continuing payments even to the point of total destitution.

This is classic efficient market hypothesis brain worms, the kind of cognitive dead-end that you arrive at when you conceive of people in purely economic terms, without considering the power relationships between them. It's a dead end you navigate to if you only think about things as they are today – vast numbers of indebted people who command fewer assets and lower wages than at any time since WWII – and treat this as a "natural" state: "how can these poors expect to be offered more debt unless they agree to have their all-important pocket computers booby-trapped?"

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/03/29/boobytrap/#device-lock-controller

Image: Oatsy (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/oatsy40/21647688003

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

[romantically-yours]

🤏this close to going to the local queer book store and looking confused in the hopes a cute girl swoops in & shows me her favorite sapphic book

[webpreneurships]

Webpreneurships Caption Generator

Generate simple but creative captions for both professional and personal use. Have fun!

[amazonmarketingtips]

How Does Design and Layout Impact Sales in Amazon Store Setup in Amazon App Marketing?

In the highly competitive realm of Amazon App Marketing, the design and layout of your Amazon Store can be the determining factors in driving sales. While it might be tempting to focus solely on product listings and pricing strategies, the visual and structural aspects of your Amazon Store play a critical role in attracting customers and converting clicks into purchases. This blog explores how thoughtful design and strategic layout can significantly impact sales in Amazon Store Setup and elevate your Amazon Marketing efforts.

First Impressions Matter

The design of your Amazon Store is the first thing customers notice when they land on your page. A well-designed store creates a positive first impression, which can build trust and encourage visitors to explore further. On the other hand, a cluttered or poorly designed store can deter potential customers, leading them to leave without making a purchase.

To create a strong first impression, ensure that your store’s design aligns with your brand identity. Use consistent colors, fonts, and imagery that reflect your brand’s personality. This not only makes your store visually appealing but also helps in establishing brand recognition. A cohesive design can make your store stand out in the crowded Amazon marketplace, making it more memorable for customers.

User-Friendly Navigation

A user-friendly layout is essential for guiding customers through your store and helping them find what they’re looking for quickly and easily. The easier it is for customers to navigate your store, the more likely they are to make a purchase.

Start by organizing your products into clear, logical categories. For example, if you sell electronics, you might have categories for smartphones, laptops, and accessories. This organization allows customers to browse by category and find specific products without unnecessary clicks.

Incorporating a search bar is also a good practice, especially for stores with a large inventory. A search bar enables customers to find products directly by entering keywords, saving them time and enhancing their shopping experience.

Visual Hierarchy and Call-to-Action (CTA)

Visual hierarchy refers to the arrangement of elements on your store page that guides the customer’s eye from one point to another. A well-designed visual hierarchy ensures that the most important information, such as product features, pricing, and CTAs, stands out.

For example, use larger fonts and bold colors for CTAs like “Add to Cart” or “Buy Now.” These buttons should be easily visible and strategically placed to encourage immediate action. Additionally, highlighting special offers or discounts near these CTAs can further entice customers to complete their purchase.

Images and videos are powerful tools in creating a visual hierarchy. High-quality images that showcase product details or demonstrate product use can capture attention and keep customers engaged. Videos, such as product demos or customer testimonials, can also be effective in persuading customers to buy.

Mobile Optimization

With a significant portion of online shopping now taking place on mobile devices, it’s crucial that your Amazon Store is optimized for mobile users. A mobile-optimized store ensures that your design and layout are responsive, providing a seamless experience across different devices.

Mobile optimization includes ensuring that images load quickly and that text is readable without zooming. Buttons and links should be easily tappable, and the layout should adjust smoothly to different screen sizes. A mobile-friendly design can significantly impact your sales, as customers are more likely to complete a purchase if their shopping experience is smooth and hassle-free.

SEO-Friendly Layout

The design and layout of your Amazon Store also impact your store’s visibility in Amazon’s search results. An SEO-friendly layout can help your store rank higher, making it easier for customers to find your products.

Incorporate relevant keywords naturally into your store’s content, including product titles, descriptions, and image alt texts. This not only improves your search ranking but also ensures that customers who are searching for specific products are more likely to land on your store.

Additionally, the use of structured data and a clean, organized layout can help search engines better understand the content of your store, further boosting your visibility.

Building Trust Through Design

Trust is a critical factor in online shopping, and your store’s design can play a significant role in building that trust. A professional, well-designed store conveys reliability and quality, making customers feel more confident in their purchasing decisions.

Incorporate elements such as customer reviews, ratings, and trust badges (e.g., secure checkout, money-back guarantee) prominently in your layout. These elements can reassure customers that they are making a safe and informed purchase, which can lead to higher conversion rates.

Enhanced Brand Storytelling

Your Amazon Store isn’t just a place to sell products; it’s also an opportunity to tell your brand’s story. The design and layout of your store can help communicate your brand’s values, mission, and unique selling propositions.

Use dedicated sections of your store to share your brand’s history, showcase your commitment to quality, or highlight what sets your products apart from the competition. By creating a narrative that resonates with customers, you can build a stronger emotional connection, encouraging brand loyalty and repeat purchases.

Conclusion

In the world of Amazon App Marketing, the design and layout of your Amazon Store are more than just aesthetic considerations—they are powerful tools that can influence customer behavior and drive sales. A well-designed store that offers a seamless shopping experience, communicates your brand’s value, and guides customers through the buying process can set you apart from competitors and boost your sales significantly.

If you’re looking to enhance your Amazon Store Setup, partnering with a professional Amazon Marketing company can provide you with the expertise needed to optimize your store’s design and layout. Similarly, collaborating with experts in Digital Marketing services can help you create a cohesive online presence across all platforms, driving more traffic to your Amazon Store and maximizing your sales potential.

[sparkleshopstore]

https://sparklestoreusashop.etsy.com

[micvonmessenger]

I'm selling journals!

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[thetenthmusesblog]

Okay I need help. I have three separate blogs all on one account/email address with different topics and different target audiences and this set up makes me uncomfortable so I’m asking. Is there a way to duplicate the tumblr app so I can use tumblr with two separate accounts at will without having to login and log out? I don’t want my privacy to be at risk is the thing.

If it helps, I’m on iPhone.

[andyridgeley]

everyone send me good vibes i’m tryin for another part time barista role

[nickgerlich]

Prying Apart The Grip

The iPhone was introduced in July 2007. It’s hard to believe we are coming up on the 17th anniversary of what is now a necessary device—be it Apple or a competitor—for daily living. Apple ushered in a whole new way of life, merging phone, camera, and music player into one device.

Of course, those three were just the tip of the iceberg, and developers wanted a way to get their cool new web-based applications onto those phones. So Apple wisely opened the App Store in 2008. While the number of apps peaked at 2.2 million in 2017, it has settled into a comfortable groove at 1.8 million, thanks to Apple sifting through the mess and deleting some older apps that no longer worked.

But buried in the details of the App Store agreement that developers had to sign with Apple—who vetted each app for safety and security—was some fine print: Every in-app sale would be divided 70/30 between the developer and Apple. Basically, there was and still is a 30% Apple tax just for playing, at least in the US. Every time a user buys something in an app, then Apple gets a healthy chunk of it.

But that is now changing in Europe, where the EU has become the tail that wags the dog.

Remember all those Cookies boxes we have to check off on virtually every website we visit? We can thank the EU and their GDPR, which stands for General Data Protection Regulation. It was easier for everyone to just make it the global standard, even if they are annoying.

And then there was Apple’s announcement last year that all new phones going forward would feature a USB-C connector, instead of the Lightning port. This too was in response to the EU mandating that all phones must have the same connector, and rather than have two global systems, Apple sided with the EU. Admittedly, it does simplify things for everyone, except for Apple users during this transition period. Legacy phone users will have a bunch of obsolete connectors real soon when they upgrade.

The third wave of EU influence just passed, and it is the opening up of the App Store to competitors who wish to have their own stores, thus bypassing the Apple ecosystem. Furthermore, it marks what will be the end of that 30% Apple tax, something that Spotify has been dreaming about ever since it wanted to upsell users with its audio books program. They are pretty happy right now.

Apple, of course, is concerned, arguing that third-party app stores may not pass muster in terms of safety and security, and users could be at risk. Point well taken. I’m betting they are more concerned about losing their revenue sharing program, though.

But for now, this is only going to happen in Europe, but you can bet that US regulators will be watching closely. It could just as easily be mandated here. Apple has enjoyed a tightly-held monopoly in many aspects of its phones, ceding only accessory items to third-party makers. You know. Things like connector cords and dongles that allow you to connect to your laptop all the things that were once standard on a MacBookPro.

Here in the US, we are not accustomed to the heavy hand of government telling companies how to run their business, and if someone wants to take the chance of using proprietary connectors and being the only source of mobile apps, then so be it. The risk is on them.

In the case of Apple, though, this has played out very well for them. It all depends on how the FTC feels about such monopoly power. Apple has 58% share of smartphones in the US, with the remainder scattered across the Android platform. That’s power. If the US were to follow the EU regarding the App Store, it would at least loosen some of the grip this company has on our daily lives.

Maybe that's not such a bad idea, and this coming from a guy who is very laissez faire in worldview. As much as I am an Apple fanboy, with many phones, tablets, and computers through the years, I often feel like Apple is guilty of abusing its position by using customers as product testers, and forcing us to buy things we really don’t want, like those silly dongles so I can read a memory stick or SD card.

Besides, I feel for Spotify on this one, because it has the potential to pose a formidable threat to Audible in the audio book world, except that for now Apple will always have its hand out. Audible, of course, is an Amazon property, and dodges the Apple tax.

Furthermore, 17 years is a long time to have such a death grip on a market. I’m good with following the EU’s lead on this, because in the end it will likely be good for consumers. And isn’t that what it’s all about?

Dr “iReckon” Gerlich

Audio Blog

[songofsaraneth]

i'll be honest i do not trust any up&coming social media site that claims it will be free to use and also not sell your data and also have zero ads. WHERE are you getting money then? like sure you can rely on donations for sustainability for like... a couple years at best probably, if you're aiming to wildly increase growth/number of users. donation based works ok for small highly invested communities or for online repositories of data (wikipedia, ao3). but like facebook/instagram/tiktok are profitable becuase they harvest data and use ads. tumblr is BARELY scraping by because it only relies on ads. if you take away even that, as soon as you have enough users to surpass the limits of free hosting, you're operating at a deficit.

like not writing this to say don't give it a shot, sincerely wish them good luck and hope they figure it out, it's hard! but also i just don't consider those kinds of websites/communities a reliable "backup" plan compared to tumblr itself which has kept chugging along for years despite Everything. it's a shiny new social media but it is weird to profess that a social media site advertising NO revenue streams will last longer than this one here.

[edutradeline]

Shopify Store Creation: A Step-by-Step Guide

[mostlysignssomeportents]

How to save the new from Big Tech

This Saturday (May 20), I’ll be at the GAITHERSBURG Book Festival with my novel Red Team Blues; then on May 22, I’m keynoting Public Knowledge’s Emerging Tech conference in DC.

On May 23, I’ll be in TORONTO for a book launch that’s part of WEPFest, a benefit for the West End Phoenix, onstage with Dave Bidini (The Rheostatics), Ron Diebert (Citizen Lab) and the whistleblower Dr Nancy Olivieri.

It’s no longer controversial to claim that Big Tech is a parasite on the news business. But there’s still a raging controversy over the nature of the parasitism, and, much more importantly, what to do about it.

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/18/stealing-money-not-content/#beyond-link-taxes

This week on EFF’s Deeplinks blog, I kick off a new series on the abusive relationship between Big Tech and the news, analyzing four different dirty practices and proposing policy answers to all four:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/saving-news-big-tech

The context here is that various governments around the world have taken notice of the tech/news problem, and are chasing a counterproductive “solution” — the “link tax,” where tech firms are required to pay for the links and short snippets their users or news search-tools make to news-stories. In some cases, the “tax” is indirect: tech is required to negotiate a payment to make up for other misdeeds (like ripping publishers off with ad fraud).

You can argue that this isn’t a link tax, it’s just pressure to bargain, but because these rules typically ban platforms from simply blocking publishers’ content if they can’t reach an agreement, they become link taxes: “You must carry links, and you must pay the sites you link to” isn’t meaningfully different from “You must pay for linking to those sites.”

This “must-carry” dimension — requiring tech firms to publish links to sites they don’t want to link to — has lots of things wrong with it, but in the US, must-carry has a showstopper bug: it contravenes the First Amendment and any law with a must-carry provision is unlikely to survive a court challenge. So people who care about protecting the news from Big Tech predators — like me — need to try other approaches.

But no matter where you are, requiring tech to pay fees to news is the wrong approach. For one thing, it’s a solution that only works for so long as Big Tech stays big: that means that efforts to break up Big Tech, force it to pay taxes and fines, and limit its profits (say, through privacy laws that end surviellance ads) are incompatible with link taxes and adjacent proposals.

The big risk here is that news outlets will become partisans in the fight against shrinking Big Tech, because news companies’ destinies will be linked to the tech giants’ own fate. More immediately, there’s the risk that news companies that depend on negotiating payments from Big Tech will not act as the effective watchdogs we need them to be.

That’s not just a hypothetical risk: in Canada, Big Tech entered into negotiations with the Toronto Star — the country’s widest-circulating paper — ahead of a proposed “news bargaining code” that was working its way through Parliament. Once that settlement was reached, the Star abruptly killed “Defanging Tech” its excellent critical series on the tech giants it had just climbed into bed with:

https://www.thestar.com/news/big-tech.html

Another important risk from “bargaining codes” and link taxes is that they tend to favor the largest and/or most sensationalist news companies, who have the leverage to bargain for the highest sums. In Australia, Rupert Murdoch’s NewsCorp bargained for a sizable payment from the tech sector — but then it laid off its news workers. Merely transferring money to media giants doesn’t mean an increase in investment in news. That’s especially true in the Canadian context, where a US vulture-capitalist fund bought out the National Post and its nationwide affiliates and then loaded the chain up with debt, while hacking newsroom staff to the bone and beyond. There’s no reason to think that tech payments to the Post will go anywhere except to the financial speculators who are its major creditors.

Meanwhile, the proposed US version, JCPA, has a payout schedule based on the number of clicks a news outlet generates for each platform — a metric that will see the lion’s share of money going to the far-right clickbait sites that push conspiracy theories, disinformation, and culture-war nonsense — and see floods of social media traffic as a result.

Any solution to the tech/news conflict should benefit the news, and the workers who produce it — not the shareholders of the giant companies whose short-sighted consolidation, mass firings, and sell-offs of physical plant created the hyper-concentrated, brittle news sector of today:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/10/16/sociopathic-monsters/#all-the-news-thats-fit-to-print

Luckily for the news, there’s a whole bushel of policy levers we can yank on to make the news better, stronger, and more sustainable, even as tech monopolies and the surveillance they rely on are consigned to the scrapheap of history.

In this series — which will publish weekly over the next four weeks — I’ll dig into four policy prescriptions for making a better news that is free of Big Tech, not dependent on it:

I. Break up ad-tech: Following the lead of Senator Mike Lee’s AMERICA Act, we must end the ad-tech sector’s self-dealing. Ad-tech scoops up 51% of every ad-dollar. That’s thanks to the ad-tech companies practice of offering marketplaces in which they represent both advertisers and publishers: that’s like a game where the referee pays the salaries of the head coaches for both teams. If we pare back the ad-tech tax to, say 10% and split the difference between advertisers and publishers, then every publisher will see an immediate 20% increase in their top-line revenue, without having to “bargain” for a “voluntary” payment from tech companies.

II. Ban surveillance ads: America is long overdue for a federal privacy law with a private right of action. When we finally get such a law, surveillance advertising is dead. Ad-tech has long argued that people like ads, so long as they’re “relevant,” a state that can only be attained through continuous, invasive surveillance. In reality, no one consents to surveillance — which is why, when Apple gave its users a one-click opt-out from spying, 94% blocked spying (unfortunately, Apple only blocks its competitors from spying on Apple customers; even if you opt out of spying on your Apple device, Apple will continue to spy on you).

The natural successor to surveillance ads is context ads: ads based on the content you’re looking at, not the surveillance data an ad-tech platform amassed on you without your consent. Context ads are intrinsically better for publishers: no publisher will ever know as much about a reader’s behavior than a spying ad-tech platform, but no ad-tech platform will ever know as much about a publisher’s own content than the publisher does.

That means that the benefits of a ban on surveillance ads wouldn’t just be an end to creepy internet spying — it would also transfer power from tech companies to news companies, online performers and other creative workers.

III. Open up app stores: 30% of every dollar spent on app-based digital subscriptions is claimed by two companies, Google and Apple, the mobile duopoly. This app store tax is a pure transfer from news to tech. The EU’s Digital Markets Act and the proposed US Open App Markets Act are both designed to kill the app store tax. Dropping mobile payment processing fees from 30% to the industry standard 2–5% will instantaneously make increase the revenue from every subscriber by 25% or more.

IV. Make social media end-to-end: Tech platforms’ predictable enshittification strategy always ends with publishers no longer being able to reach their subscribers unless they pay to “boost” their content. Social media companies claim to be facilitators of the connection between publishers and audiences, but in reality, they take those audiences hostage and ransom them off to publishers. An end-to-end rule for social media would require platforms to reliably deliver material published by accounts to their own followers, who asked to see that material.

The debate over news and tech starts from the erroneous — and dangerous — assumption that the platforms are stealing the news media’s content, by letting their users talk about, quote and link to the news. This isn’t theft: if you’re not allowed to talk about the news, then it’s not the news — it’s a secret.

The platforms are stealing from news, though: they’re not stealing content, they’re stealing money. Between sky-high ad-tech rakes, app store taxes, and ransom demands to reach your own subscribers, the tech companies have grabbed the majority of money generated by news workers and the companies they work for.

Ending this theft will produce a more sustainable and robust source of funding for the news — without compromising news companies’ ability to aggressively hold tech to account, and without propping up financialized, hollowed-out media monopolies at the expense of an independent press.

Catch me on tour with Red Team Blues in Toronto, DC, Gaithersburg, Oxford, Hay, Manchester, Nottingham, London, and Berlin!

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/18/stealing-money-not-content/#beyond-link-taxes

[Image ID: EFF's banner for the save news series; the word 'NEWS' appears in pixelated, gothic script in the style of a newspaper masthead. Beneath it in four entwined circles are logos for breaking up ad-tech, ending surveillance ads, opening app stores, and end-to-end delivery.]

Image: EFF https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/saving-news-big-tech

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

[desertrosew]

[keithcsmith]

I was always deeply involved with Minion Rush. Not only did I write (and regularly update) the core description, but I also wrote the in-game scripts for many limited-time events. Getting to put words in the mouths of such iconic characters as Gru and the girls was a pretty exceptional experience! And it came in quite handy when I inevitably needed to write the "What's New" description for said events.

[amazonmarketingtips]

What Are the Benefits of A+ Content in Amazon Store Setup in Amazon App Marketing?

In the competitive world of Amazon App Marketing, standing out from the crowd can be a challenging task. Brands are constantly looking for ways to differentiate themselves and capture the attention of potential customers. One of the most effective ways to do this is by utilizing A+ Content in Amazon Store Setup. This feature offers brands the opportunity to enhance their product listings with rich content that can improve customer engagement, boost sales, and build brand loyalty. In this blog, we’ll explore the benefits of incorporating A+ Content into your Amazon Marketing strategy.

Understanding A+ Content

Before diving into the benefits, it’s essential to understand what A+ Content is and how it fits into Amazon Store Setup. A+ Content allows sellers, particularly those enrolled in Amazon’s Brand Registry, to enhance their product descriptions with additional images, text placements, comparison charts, and more. Unlike the standard product description, A+ Content provides a more detailed and visually appealing presentation of your products.

This enhanced content is not just about aesthetics; it’s about providing potential customers with the information they need to make informed purchasing decisions. By using A+ Content, brands can communicate their unique selling propositions more effectively, ultimately leading to higher conversion rates.

Benefit 1: Improved Customer Engagement

One of the most significant benefits of A+ Content in Amazon Store Setup is improved customer engagement. With the ability to add rich media elements like high-quality images, videos, and infographics, brands can create a more interactive shopping experience. This not only grabs the attention of potential buyers but also keeps them engaged longer.

For example, using comparison charts to highlight the differences between your product and competitors can help customers quickly understand why your product is the better choice. Similarly, detailed product descriptions accompanied by images can answer common questions, reducing the need for customers to look elsewhere for information.

Benefit 2: Higher Conversion Rates

A+ Content is designed to convert browsers into buyers. By providing potential customers with all the information they need in a clear and visually appealing format, you reduce the barriers to purchase. This is especially important in Amazon App Marketing, where customers often make quick decisions based on the information available at a glance.

Enhanced content such as lifestyle images, detailed product descriptions, and customer testimonials can all play a role in persuading customers to choose your product over others. When customers feel confident in their understanding of a product, they are more likely to make a purchase, leading to higher conversion rates.

Benefit 3: Enhanced Brand Storytelling

Another powerful aspect of A+ Content is its ability to enhance brand storytelling. Unlike standard product descriptions, which are often limited in scope, A+ Content allows you to tell a more comprehensive story about your brand and products. This can include the history of your brand, your commitment to quality, or the unique benefits of your products.

By weaving your brand’s story into your product listings, you create a more personal connection with potential customers. This can lead to increased brand loyalty as customers are more likely to purchase from a brand they feel connected to.

A well-crafted brand story can also differentiate your products from competitors, making them more memorable in the minds of consumers. In the context of Amazon Store Setup, where customers have countless options to choose from, this can be a significant advantage.

Benefit 4: Better SEO Performance

Search engine optimization (SEO) is crucial for visibility on Amazon. A+ Content can contribute to better SEO performance by providing additional keyword-rich content on your product pages. This can improve your product’s ranking in Amazon’s search results, making it more likely that customers will find your product when searching for related items.

By incorporating relevant keywords into your A+ Content, you can attract more organic traffic to your product listings. This increased visibility can lead to higher sales and a better return on investment for your Amazon Marketing efforts.

Benefit 5: Reduced Return Rates

Providing customers with detailed and accurate information about your products can also lead to reduced return rates. When customers have a clear understanding of what they are purchasing, they are less likely to be disappointed when the product arrives. A+ Content allows you to set clear expectations by showcasing your product’s features, dimensions, and uses in a more detailed manner.

By reducing the likelihood of returns, you not only save on costs associated with handling returns but also improve customer satisfaction. Satisfied customers are more likely to leave positive reviews, which can further enhance your product’s appeal to future buyers.

Conclusion

Incorporating A+ Content into your Amazon Store Setup is a powerful strategy that can provide numerous benefits for your Amazon Marketing efforts. From improving customer engagement and increasing conversion rates to enhancing brand storytelling and boosting SEO performance, A+ Content is an essential tool for any brand looking to succeed on Amazon.

By leveraging the full potential of A+ Content, you can create a more compelling and informative shopping experience that not only attracts customers but also converts them into loyal buyers. If you’re looking to elevate your Amazon Marketing strategy, consider partnering with a professional Amazon Marketing services provider. They can help you maximize the impact of your A+ Content and ensure that your brand stands out in the competitive Amazon marketplace.

For additional support in your Digital Marketing efforts, working with a Digital Marketing company can also provide the expertise needed to enhance your online presence across various platforms, driving even more traffic to your Amazon Store.

[coolbeansfangirl]

I Love Rewards Programs

I love earning rewards. I am by no means a big shopper, but when I do have to make a purchase, you can bet that I am doing everything I can to make the most of my dollar. And that often involves earning reward points. I don’t know which fast food chain led the charge, but nowadays (in Canada, at least) a lot of fast food places like McDonalds or Burger King have a reward point system where every…