#online communication and digital communication platforms
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#Crypto Community#Digital Wealth#DLC Coin Bot#Innovative Profits#Smart Investment Tool#Cryptocurrency World#Financial Freedom#Future Finance#Financial Goals#Easy Registration#Secure Investments#No Experience Needed#Earning Potential#Wealth Management#Crypto Revolution#Investment Opportunities#Automated Profits#Financial Independence#Online Earnings#Digital Assets#Blockchain Solutions#Cryptocurrency Trading#Secure Crypto Transactions#Digital Finance Platform#Future Investments#Crypto Savings#Crypto Tools#Growth Opportunities#Innovative Technology
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BLUESKY THE NEW SAFE SPACE FOR LIBERAL TEARS
Attention all Liberals, Bluesky is now providing you a safe space to go to cry openly about the harsh realities of life. In depression because you’re a man who wears a dress? Go to Bluesky to get the comfort you need. Get away from all those racists and Hitlers and join with others in our crying contest. Bluesky, a safe space for those unable to face life. BLUESKY THE NEW SAFE SPACE FOR…
#Alternative Platforms#Bluesky#Censorship#Community Building#Content Creation#Digital Freedom#Digital Privacy#Emerging Technologies#Free Speech#Internet Culture#Liberal Tears#Online Community#Online Safety#political commentary#political discourse#Safe Space#Social Media#Tech News#User Experience
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james somerton is just one of those people who wants to do whatever he wants and cannot stand the consequences of their own actions, which they willingly chose to do. entitled and self-absorbed motherfuckers. and that's the only way you can think to do the things he's done in the first place. having no base respect for the people you steal from and your audience, of course you think you can somehow do something to win them back. you can't. no one but an egomaniac would do what he's done in the first place, and only an egomaniac would think they can come back from that and still deserve to be praised and respected and have your cozy career like you did before you were exposed for what you've done. people like this cannot be worked with in the public eye.
#as a human i dont wish for his life to be ruined but as a 'professional' creator he absolutely does not deserve a career#he only had it because of theft. theft which he did because he felt he was owed riches and privilege that the ppl who stole from#apparently did not.#theft and lies! and his lies are another can of worms entirely#monstrous venomous worms#text post#he just needs to go away and his personal problems need to only affect himself and the ppl around him.#the online lgbtq/cultural commentary community should have nothing to do with him.#he's done nothing for anybody else in the digital space. he NEEDS. to LEAVE#nobody here should ever have to think about him again. as a human being w a drop of compassion.#bc he was never really in community with anybody in fact he's actively been hostile to the idea that he's not on an island#where he makes the most important and best queer content.#let him be a lesson and close the book on him#he should genuinely be banned from all platforms so he never has access to steal from or manipulate anyone ever again.#he should NOT BE A PUBLIC PROBLEM ANYMORE.#the only way he can exist in public after all he's done is as a menace. and that's his and his doing only. so goodbye james. go away#you learn how to live with those thoughts by yourself. it's not *our* issue
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How to Boost Your Online Presence with Digital Marketing
Discover effective strategies to enhance your online presence through digital marketing. Boost visibility, attract customers, and drive growth. Learn more!
Introduction
According to recent reports, the digital advertising industry in India witnessed substantial growth, reaching a market size of nearly 300 billion Indian rupees in the year 2022. This represents a significant leap from the market size recorded in the year 2016 source: statista.com
In today's digital age, having a strong online presence is essential for businesses of all sizes. Digital marketing offers a wide range of strategies and techniques that can help boost your online visibility, attract more customers, and drive business growth. In this article, we will explore various ways to enhance your online presence through effective digital marketing strategies.
Table of Contents
Understanding the Importance of Online Presence
Developing a Comprehensive Digital Marketing Strategy
Building a User-Friendly Website
Implementing Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Creating Engaging Content
Leveraging Social Media Platforms
Harnessing the Power of Email Marketing
Embracing Video Marketing
Engaging with Online Communities and Influencers
Utilizing Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising
Analyzing and Measuring Performance
Keeping Up with Digital Marketing Trends
Incorporating Mobile Optimization
Enhancing Customer Experience through Personalization
Conclusion
1. Understanding the Importance of Online Presence
In the digital landscape, having a strong online presence is crucial for businesses to succeed. It allows you to reach a wider audience, increase brand awareness, and establish credibility in your industry. A robust online presence also enables you to connect and engage with potential customers, driving conversions and sales.
2. Developing a Comprehensive Digital Marketing Strategy
To boost your online presence effectively, it's essential to develop a comprehensive digital marketing strategy. Start by defining your goals and target audience. Conduct thorough market research to identify the platforms and channels your target audience frequents. Then, create a roadmap that outlines the specific tactics and techniques you will employ to achieve your objectives.
3. Building a User-Friendly Website
A well-designed and user-friendly website is the foundation of your online presence. Ensure that your website is visually appealing, easy to navigate, and mobile responsive. Optimize it for fast loading speeds and ensure that the content is relevant, informative, and engaging.
4. Implementing Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO plays a vital role in improving your online visibility and driving organic traffic to your website. Conduct keyword research to identify relevant keywords and incorporate them naturally into your website's content. Optimize your meta tags, headings, and alt tags with relevant keywords to enhance your website's search engine rankings.
5. Creating Engaging Content
Content is king in the digital world. Create high-quality, engaging, and informative content that resonates with your target audience. Publish blog posts, articles, videos, and infographics that provide value and address your audience's pain points. Incorporate relevant keywords to improve search engine rankings and share your content across various platforms to maximize its reach.
6. Leveraging Social Media Platforms
Social media platforms offer immense opportunities to boost your online presence. Identify the platforms that align with your target audience and develop a strong presence on them. Regularly share engaging content, interact with your followers, and leverage social media advertising to reach a broader audience. Utilize analytics tools to measure the effectiveness of your social media efforts and make data-driven decisions.
7. Harnessing the Power of Email Marketing
Email marketing remains one of the most effective strategies for nurturing leads and driving conversions. Build an email list by offering valuable incentives such as exclusive content or discounts. Segment your email list based on customer preferences and behaviors to send personalized and targeted messages. Craft compelling subject lines and content to encourage email opens and click-throughs.
8. Embracing Video Marketing
Video marketing has gained significant popularity in recent years. Create engaging and informative videos that showcase your products or services, provide tutorials or demonstrations, or share customer success stories. Publish your videos on platforms like YouTube, Vimeo, and social media channels to increase your online visibility and engage with your audience on a deeper level.
9. Engaging with Online Communities and Influencers
Active participation in online communities and collaboration with influencers can greatly enhance your online presence. Identify relevant online communities and forums where your target audience interacts and contributes valuable insights and expertise. Build relationships with influencers in your industry who can endorse your brand and expose it to a larger audience.
10. Utilizing Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising
PPC advertising allows you to display targeted ads to potential customers and drive traffic to your website. Conduct thorough keyword research and create compelling ad copy to optimize your PPC campaigns. Monitor and analyze your campaign's performance regularly, making necessary adjustments to maximize your return on investment (ROI).
11. Analyzing and Measuring Performance
To continually improve your online presence, it's crucial to analyze and measure the performance of your digital marketing efforts. Utilize tools like Google Analytics to track website traffic, user behavior, and conversion rates. Monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) such as click-through rates, bounce rates, and social media engagement. Use the insights gained to refine your strategies and optimize your online presence further.
12. Keeping Up with Digital Marketing Trends
The digital marketing landscape is ever-evolving, with new trends and technologies emerging regularly. Stay updated with the latest industry news and developments. Embrace new technologies, platforms, and strategies that can help you stay ahead of the competition and maintain a strong online presence.
13. Incorporating Mobile Optimization
In the mobile-driven era, optimizing your online presence for mobile devices is essential. Ensure that your website is mobile-friendly, with responsive design and fast loading speeds. Optimize your content for mobile consumption and leverage mobile advertising to reach users on the go.
14. Enhancing Customer Experience through Personalization
Personalization is key to delivering an exceptional customer experience and fostering loyalty. Leverage customer data and analytics to personalize your website content, email campaigns, and targeted ads. Tailor your messaging to address individual customer needs and preferences, making them feel valued and engaged.
15. Conclusion
Boosting your online presence through effective digital marketing strategies is a crucial step in today's competitive business landscape. By understanding the importance of online presence, developing a comprehensive digital marketing strategy, and implementing various techniques such as SEO, content creation, social media engagement, and video marketing, you can significantly enhance your brand's visibility and attract a larger audience. Stay proactive in analyzing performance, keeping up with trends, and embracing new technologies to maintain a strong and impactful online presence.
Q1: How long does it take to see results from digital marketing efforts?
A1: The time it takes to see results from digital marketing efforts can vary depending on various factors such as the strategies implemented, target audience, industry competition, and budget allocated. In some cases, you may start noticing improvements within a few weeks, while for others, it may take several months to see significant results. But if you want to accelerate your digital presence 8 Miles Solutions is here to help
Q2: Do I need to hire a digital marketing agency to boost my online presence?
A2: Hiring a digital marketing agency can provide you with expertise, resources, and a comprehensive strategy to enhance your online presence. And companies like 8 Miles Solutions are of great help
#boosting online presence#digital marketing#online visibility#attract customers#drive growth#digital advertising#market size#strong online presence#digital marketing strategy#user-friendly website#search engine optimization#engaging content#social media platforms#email marketing#video marketing#online communities#influencers#pay-per-click advertising#analyzing performance#digital marketing trends#mobile optimization#customer experience#personalization#digital marketing agency
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lots of kinda scattered thoughts/rambling in the tags.
The only thing I need tumblr to do is to get like... cool with the idea you can hire people here to do commissions for you and to like.. consider monetary support for artists cuz one of the reasons and the biggest reason I moved to twitter in the first place is because people there buy my art. I make a living there doing art. And the vibe here is **we don't do that here** If you want artists to be here and do art you gotta be okay with the concept of artists trying to make money. I hate capitalism as much as the next person but I'm also 30 years old living with my fucking parents because I can't pay for a 1 bedroom apartment. Artists are not 'big business'. We're not Disney. We're just people trying to make a living or some money for groceries and shit.
#i love to buy commissions when i can afford it or when i see someone's posting something cute for sale.#I've also asked my favorite artists if they have an online store or if they're doing commissions and usually it's no.#like probably one of my more expensive commissions i bought I'm in a discord server for their art and i had to move SO SO fast to secure a#slot. so idk. like Yes part of it is a lot of ppl want to but don't have a lot of disposable income but part of it too is it just not being#clear who has a shop and who's actually actively taking commissions. I've also been burned on here and had someone take#$100-$200 without ever giving me the actual commissions so i think since then I've been a Bit more hesitant 😬 but i also have saved links#on my calendar for next payday bc i saw some cute stuff i wanted to buy floating around on here.#i don't think this assessment is wrong but i do feel like there's a huge disconnect between artists actively selling and ppl trying to buy.#except for accounts with followings so huge it doesn't matter bc if they post they're open ppl will jump for it like i did in discord.#🤔 i think two key things that are missing from tumblr as a platform is 1. a way to signal @everyone that you're taking comms and 2. a#List type functionality where all the art accounts we follow can have their own little dedicated dashboard so open comm posts aren't “lost#in the noise” so to speak. I think there are changes that could be made to tumblr itself as a platform if it wanted to help its art#community more. I know there are plans in the works for letting users sell their physical products but I'd love to have better#organization and portfolios n indicators etc for ppl who sell things digitally. idk.#there is a conversation to be had here and things that could be changed/added.
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Long-term business benefits
#Business growth#Free local listings#Online business directory#Business opportunities#Local search platform#Community connection#Comparative advantage#Customer convenience#Long-term business benefits#Cross-platform presence#Business insights#Nagpur business listings#Digital marketing services#Local business promotion#PSK Technologies
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#Content monetization#Course creators platform#GetResponse features#Online course sales#Monetize digital content#E-learning tools#Email marketing for educators#Subscription-based content#GetResponse for creators#Sell courses online#Digital product sales#Build online communities#Automated marketing for courses#E-commerce for online courses#Content creator tool#Course creator marketing automation#Landing pages for courses#Membership site#Monetize educational content#Audience growth for course creators#Online Course Creation#Course Creator Tools#AI Course Creator
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Crafting Your Digital Shadow: Memorable Online Presence Hacks!
In a world where your online presence can shape perceptions, it’s crucial to craft a digital shadow that doesn’t just linger but haunts! Your digital fingerprint can be your greatest asset or your worst nightmare, depending on how you handle it. This article dives into your online persona with a humorous twist, offering hacks to make sure your exes remember you long after the relationship has…
#adventure#art#community#creativity#digital platforms#discovery#evolution#experiences#freedom#inspiration#joy#mastering#online presence#reflection#resilience#social media#storytelling#time#travel#unity
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Unearthing Gems: How Social Media Can Be a Tool for Discovery
Social media is often seen as a hub for entertainment and connection, but it can also be a powerful tool for learning and expanding your knowledge. By following the right accounts, engaging in discussions, and utilizing various features, you can transform your social media scroll into a springboard for discovery. Why Use Social Media for Learning? Social media offers several advantages for…
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#Continuous Learning#Critical Thinking#Curated Feeds#Digital Education#Digital Learning#Educational Content#Educational Hashtags#Educational Resources#Expert Insights#Information Literacy#Knowledge Discovery#Knowledge Seeking#Knowledge Sharing#learning#Learning communities#Learning Platforms#Online Learning#Social Media#Social Media Education#Social Media Tips
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How Many Users Are There on Major Social Media Platforms in 2024?
Social media continues to be a pivotal part of our daily lives, shaping how we communicate, share information, and consume content. As of 2024, the landscape of social media is more expansive and influential than ever. But how many users are there on major social media platforms in 2024? Let’s dive into the latest statistics to understand the scale of this digital phenomenon. Facebook: 2.96…
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#2024 stats#audience demographics#augmented reality#business marketing#communication#community engagement#content creators#content sharing#creative ideas#digital era#digital landscape#digital phenomenon#End-to-End Encryption#engagement#ephemeral messaging#Facebook#global communication#Global Reach#industry insights#innovation#Instagram#internet users#LinkedIn#messaging app#online engagement#online platforms#personal connections#Pinterest#platform usage#professional networking
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Hey Aussies, do you want your real name and ID slapped on your tumblr account? If the answer is fuck no, our gov’s got a upcoming legislation for banning 16 year olds and under from social media even WITH parental consent. And by “Social Media”…
The code defines social media as electronic services that meet the following conditions:
The sole or primary purpose of the service is to enable online social interaction between two or more end users
The service allows end users to link to, or interact with, some or all other end users
The service allows end users to post material on the service
Such other conditions (if any) as are set out in the legislative rules.
So. You know. Just the entire fucking internet. They even named youtube as banned, god forbid kids out in the bush get access to LGBTQ+ communities online when they could be watching adds for sportsbet.
I am 100 per cent supportive of eliminating bullying and fake information from online platforms. The easiest way to do that is to be able to utilise existing laws, and the easiest way to do that is to ensure there are no fake accounts. Your digital, online life is your real life. If you want to make comments, that's fine, but it should be as you, as a verified account. This means everyone knows who it is that makes those comments, that you can be found and prosecuted under existing laws, just as you would if you express those opinions in a newspaper, for example, or you went on to a television station and said something similar.
Contact an Aussie senator about this shit. They’re trying to slide it under all the USpol news.
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Truth Social Trump
#1. Truth Social#2. Donald Trump#3. Social Media#4. Free Speech#5. Censorship#6. Alternative Platforms#7. Politics#8. Digital Communication#9. Social Networking#10. Online Communities
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Poetry Does Not Exist- Poetry’s Renaissance in the Digital Age, and What You Must Know
Title: The Sine Qua Non of the Art and Science of Poetry Writing Introduction: Poetry, often described as the language of the soul, is a unique form of expression that marries the artistry of words with the precision of science. To craft a poem that resonates deeply with readers requires a delicate balance between creativity and structure, imagination and technique. In the world of poetry…
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#Creative Expression Online#Digital Literary Arts#Digital Poet Community#Digital Poetics#Digital Verse#Internet-Powered Poetry#Online Poetic Communities#Online Poetry Platforms#Poetic Evolution#Poetic Innovation#Poetic Revolution#Poetry Across Social Media#Poetry and New Media#Poetry and the Internet#Poetry Apps#Poetry Beyond Print#Poetry Blogs#Poetry in Cyberspace#Poetry in the Digital Age#Poetry in the Digital Era#Poetry&039;s Digital Frontier#Poetry&039;s Digital Renaissance#Poets on the Internet#Tech-Infused Poetry#Tech-Savvy Poets#Technology and Creative Writing#Technology and Poetry#Technology-Driven Creativity#The Poetry of Tomorrow#Web Poetry Journals
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Enhancing Digital Success: DCUB3 is your Reliable Web Development Company in Singapore
#Having a strong online presence is essential for companies to succeed in Singapore's vibrant online community. Enter DCUB3#a renowned Web Development Agency with a focus on digital solutions#SEO#and site design. They have earned a reputation as a reliable partner for companies looking to build a strong online presence because of the#we will look at how DCUB3 has established itself as a top web development agency in Singapore#providing excellent services including web design and SEO.#Web Development Singapore: Crafting digital excellence -#DCUB3 is a reputable web development company in Singapore that specializes in providing top-notch web development services. Their team of q#whether it be a corporate website#e-commerce platform#or online application. They produce responsive#very user-friendly#and aesthetically attractive websites that create a lasting impression by using the most recent industry standards and best practices.#SEO Services Singapore: Increasing Online Visibility -#Having a website alone is insufficient in the fiercely competitive digital environment of today. Businesses want efficient SEO techniques t#and DCUB3 provides thorough SEO Services in Singapore. They assist companies in achieving improved search engine results and more online ex#on-page optimization#link building#and other areas. DCUB3 makes sure that its customers' websites are optimized to draw organic traffic and encourage conversions by keeping u#Web Designer Singapore: Creating digital masterpieces -#As one of the Web Design Agency in Singapore#DCUB3 is aware of how important aesthetics are in attracting and holding online users' attention. Their team of professional web designers#from attractive layouts to clear user interfaces. They make sure that every component of the website improves user engagement and promotes#Overall#DCUB3 has made a name for itself as a reliable web development company providing a wide variety of Singapore Seo Services including web des#businesses may realize their full potential in Singapore's competitive digital market by using their knowledge of web development#and web design. Count on DCUB3 to elevate your online presence and spur digital success.
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How lock-in hurts design
Berliners: Otherland has added a second date (Jan 28) for my book-talk after the first one sold out - book now!
If you've ever read about design, you've probably encountered the idea of "paving the desire path." A "desire path" is an erosion path created by people departing from the official walkway and taking their own route. The story goes that smart campus planners don't fight the desire paths laid down by students; they pave them, formalizing the route that their constituents have voted for with their feet.
Desire paths aren't always great (Wikipedia notes that "desire paths sometimes cut through sensitive habitats and exclusion zones, threatening wildlife and park security"), but in the context of design, a desire path is a way that users communicate with designers, creating a feedback loop between those two groups. The designers make a product, the users use it in ways that surprise the designer, and the designer integrates all that into a new revision of the product.
This method is widely heralded as a means of "co-innovating" between users and companies. Designers who practice the method are lauded for their humility, their willingness to learn from their users. Tech history is strewn with examples of successful paved desire-paths.
Take John Deere. While today the company is notorious for its war on its customers (via its opposition to right to repair), Deere was once a leader in co-innovation, dispatching roving field engineers to visit farms and learn how farmers had modified their tractors. The best of these modifications would then be worked into the next round of tractor designs, in a virtuous cycle:
https://securityledger.com/2019/03/opinion-my-grandfathers-john-deere-would-support-our-right-to-repair/
But this pattern is even more pronounced in the digital world, because it's much easier to update a digital service than it is to update all the tractors in the field, especially if that service is cloud-based, meaning you can modify the back-end everyone is instantly updated. The most celebrated example of this co-creation is Twitter, whose users created a host of its core features.
Retweets, for example, were a user creation. Users who saw something they liked on the service would type "RT" and paste the text and the link into a new tweet composition window. Same for quote-tweets: users copied the URL for a tweet and pasted it in below their own commentary. Twitter designers observed this user innovation and formalized it, turning it into part of Twitter's core feature-set.
Companies are obsessed with discovering digital desire paths. They pay fortunes for analytics software to produce maps of how their users interact with their services, run focus groups, even embed sneaky screen-recording software into their web-pages:
https://www.wired.com/story/the-dark-side-of-replay-sessions-that-record-your-every-move-online/
This relentless surveillance of users is pursued in the name of making things better for them: let us spy on you and we'll figure out where your pain-points and friction are coming from, and remove those. We all win!
But this impulse is a world apart from the humility and respect implied by co-innovation. The constant, nonconsensual observation of users has more to do with controlling users than learning from them.
That is, after all, the ethos of modern technology: the more control a company can exert over its users ,the more value it can transfer from those users to its shareholders. That's the key to enshittification, the ubiquitous platform decay that has degraded virtually all the technology we use, making it worse every day:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/19/twiddler/
When you are seeking to control users, the desire paths they create are all too frequently a means to wrestling control back from you. Take advertising: every time a service makes its ads more obnoxious and invasive, it creates an incentive for its users to search for "how do I install an ad-blocker":
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/07/adblocking-how-about-nah
More than half of all web-users have installed ad-blockers. It's the largest consumer boycott in human history:
https://doc.searls.com/2023/11/11/how-is-the-worlds-biggest-boycott-doing/
But zero app users have installed ad-blockers, because reverse-engineering an app requires that you bypass its encryption, triggering liability under Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. This law provides for a $500,000 fine and a 5-year prison sentence for "circumvention" of access controls:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/12/youre-holding-it-wrong/#if-dishwashers-were-iphones
Beyond that, modifying an app creates liability under copyright, trademark, patent, trade secrets, noncompete, nondisclosure and so on. It's what Jay Freeman calls "felony contempt of business model":
https://locusmag.com/2020/09/cory-doctorow-ip/
This is why services are so horny to drive you to install their app rather using their websites: they are trying to get you to do something that, given your druthers, you would prefer not to do. They want to force you to exit through the gift shop, you want to carve a desire path straight to the parking lot. Apps let them mobilize the law to literally criminalize those desire paths.
An app is just a web-page wrapped in enough IP to make it a felony to block ads in it (or do anything else that wrestles value back from a company). Apps are web-pages where everything not forbidden is mandatory.
Seen in this light, an app is a way to wage war on desire paths, to abandon the cooperative model for co-innovation in favor of the adversarial model of user control and extraction.
Corporate apologists like to claim that the proliferation of apps proves that users like them. Neoliberal economists love the idea that business as usual represents a "revealed preference." This is an intellectually unserious tautology: "you do this, so you must like it":
https://boingboing.net/2024/01/22/hp-ceo-says-customers-are-a-bad-investment-unless-they-can-be-made-to-buy-companys-drm-ink-cartridges.html
Calling an action where no alternatives are permissible a "preference" or a "choice" is a cheap trick – especially when considered against the "preferences" that reveal themselves when a real choice is possible. Take commercial surveillance: when Apple gave Ios users a choice about being spied on – a one-click opt of of app-based surveillance – 96% of users choice no spying:
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/05/96-of-us-users-opt-out-of-app-tracking-in-ios-14-5-analytics-find/
But then Apple started spying on those very same users that had opted out of spying by Facebook and other Apple competitors:
https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/14/luxury-surveillance/#liar-liar
Neoclassical economists aren't just obsessed with revealed preferences – they also love to bandy about the idea of "moral hazard": economic arrangements that tempt people to be dishonest. This is typically applied to the public ("consumers" in the contemptuous parlance of econospeak). But apps are pure moral hazard – for corporations. The ability to prohibit desire paths – and literally imprison rivals who help your users thwart those prohibitions – is too tempting for companies to resist.
The fact that the majority of web users block ads reveals a strong preference for not being spied on ("users just want relevant ads" is such an obvious lie that doesn't merit any serious discussion):
https://www.iccl.ie/news/82-of-the-irish-public-wants-big-techs-toxic-algorithms-switched-off/
Giant companies attained their scale by learning from their users, not by thwarting them. The person using technology always knows something about what they need to do and how they want to do it that the designers can never anticipate. This is especially true of people who are unlike those designers – people who live on the other side of the world, or the other side of the economic divide, or whose bodies don't work the way that the designers' bodies do:
https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/20/benevolent-dictators/#felony-contempt-of-business-model
Apps – and other technologies that are locked down so their users can be locked in – are the height of technological arrogance. They embody a belief that users are to be told, not heard. If a user wants to do something that the designer didn't anticipate, that's the user's fault:
https://www.wired.com/2010/06/iphone-4-holding-it-wrong/
Corporate enthusiasm for prohibiting you from reconfiguring the tools you use to suit your needs is a declaration of the end of history. "Sure," John Deere execs say, "we once learned from farmers by observing how they modified their tractors. But today's farmers are so much stupider and we are so much smarter that we have nothing to learn from them anymore."
Spying on your users to control them is a poor substitute asking your users their permission to learn from them. Without technological self-determination, preferences can't be revealed. Without the right to seize the means of computation, the desire paths never emerge, leaving designers in the dark about what users really want.
Our policymakers swear loyalty to "innovation" but when corporations ask for the right to decide who can innovate and how, they fall all over themselves to create laws that let companies punish users for the crime of contempt of business-model.
I'm Kickstarting the audiobook for The Bezzle, the sequel to Red Team Blues, narrated by @wilwheaton! You can pre-order the audiobook and ebook, DRM free, as well as the hardcover, signed or unsigned. There's also bundles with Red Team Blues in ebook, audio or paperback.
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/2024/01/24/everything-not-mandatory/#is-prohibited
Image: Belem (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Desire_path_%2819811581366%29.jpg
CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en
#pluralistic#desire paths#design#drm#everything not mandatory is prohibited#apps#ip#innovation#user innovation#technological self-determination#john deere#twitter#felony contempt of business model
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A lot of good observations, context, connection-making, and generally clear thinking in this piece about social media and platforms in general and how they inevitably (?) destroy themselves through their “business models.” Or rather, perhaps, how “montetization” destroys digital “products” built around or for online coomunities.
This is enshittification: Surpluses are first directed to users; then, once they're locked in, surpluses go to suppliers; then once they're locked in, the surplus is handed to shareholders and the platform becomes a useless pile of shit. From mobile app stores to Steam, from Facebook to Twitter, this is the enshittification lifecycle.
Great summary paragraph about Facebook in particular:
Today, Facebook is terminally enshittified, a terrible place to be whether you're a user, a media company, or an advertiser. It's a company that deliberately demolished a huge fraction of the publishers it relied on, defrauding them into a "pivot to video" based on false claims of the popularity of video among Facebook users. Companies threw billions into the pivot, but the viewers never materialized, and media outlets folded in droves.
(The phrase “pivot to video” still makes my blood boil.)
I’m always interested in what Cory Doctorow has to say, but had missed this piece from January until yesterday afternoon when I heard him discussing it and related concepts with Brooke Gladstone on On the Media yesterday on WBEZ. Part of the discussion on the show: how the current regulatory environment facilitates bad outcomes by tipping the scales in favor of big companies at the expense of consumers and innovation.
A good read with lots of prerequisites to understand before imagining alternative ways of building sustainable platforms.
#Cory Doctorow#social media#internet platforms#enshittification#Facebook#Twitter#TikTok#pivot to video#media#Brooke Gladstone#WBEZ#monetization#business models#digital products#online community#radio#On the Media
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