One of the most notable quotes in the tech industry is, "If you’re not paying for the product, then you are the product.”
Although I'm sure most people have heard that before, I'm quite certain they do not understand what it really means.
To illustrate my point I will use a recent situation in the world of sports, most precisely the National Football League (NFL).
Taylor Swift takes the NFL by storm
Whether you are a sports fan or not, you have probably heard that pop singer Taylor Swift has engaged in a relationship with Kansas City Chiefs Tight End Travis Kelce because that was all over the news.
It's not like Kelce was unknown before that - he is currently one of the league's top players in his position and his Quarterback is Patrick Mahomes, who is also a celebrity himself - but his relationship with Swift took his popularity way beyond the world of sports.
Of course, the NFL and several broadcast companies immediately spotted a huge opportunity to be in the spotlight and started showing Swift every time she stepped foot in a stadium.
But here is the thing, football fans and pop music fans are not always one and the same and while this shift of focus to ms Swift pleased a lot of fans, it pissed off an equal amount.
And here is where things start to get funny and finally connect to the central point of this post.
Some of the most unsatisfied fans started to make comments like these:
This is where it became clear that people have no idea how social network algorithms work on Web 2. They believe that by showing their indifference or ultimate repulse for Taylor Swift they will make the NFL or whatever company to take a step back and reconsider their actions.
The funny thing is, these people are doing exactly what companies expect them to do.
A numbers game
Social media is designed to keep our attention for as long as possible and the way the algorithms achieve that is by playing with our emotions. It doesn't care if we like or dislike something as long as we react.
So, when Bob from Batesville, Arkansas, comments on a NFL post saying that he "doesn't care" about Taylor Swift and wants to see stuff about football, does he think the League will see his comment and say "oh, looks like we pissed off Bob! We better stop posting stuff about Taylor Swift!" ?
Needless to say, the answer is not. Unless, of course, Bob owns a billion-dollar company that pays the NFL millions every year to advertise during their games but that's rarely the case.
Moreover, I have some bad news for you Bob. You may say you don't care but is that true? You just went out of your way to reply to an Instagram post about a pop singer showing up to a football game. I'm sorry but that's the opposite of not caring.
But don't worry Bob, you are not alone. Most of us fall for that trap and that's how "they" get us.
It's all a numbers game, and as long as these companies can keep pulling out huge active user counts, reactions, impressions, you name it, they will continue to act in the same way, so if you really don't care about something, act accordingly and ignore it.
Final thoughts
Social media is free on web 2 and the reason for that is very simple: you are not using a product, you are the product. Companies will do their best to get you hooked up and "sell your attention" to the highest bidder.
One way to break that cycle and get rid of those dynamics is completely ditching web 2 and moving to web 3 but if, for any reason, you still wish to have a web 2 presence, then at least be aware of how the attention economy works and use it in your favour instead of being just a pawn for the system.