Friesen, N (2010). Education and the social Web: Connective learning and the commercial imperative. First Monday, 15 retrieved (10/21/2013) from http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3149/2718#author.
I found Friesen's ideas very interesting. Like him, I also have concerns that advertisers are using social media to obtain too much of my personal information so that they can then use this information to develop target advertisements direct towards me for products that will meet my needs.
But, we live in a market economy and some will say that this is the price we pay to use its resources (i.e. nothing is free). I don't believe that advertisers are hindering the learning aspects of social media to a large extent for older audiences. Most of us have been bombarded with advertisements over the years and we seem to be able to compartmentalize them or, we learn to work around them. For example, I rarely watch live TV now. I record it with my DVR and then watch it at my convenience and fast forward through the advertisements. I have more of a problem with this social media advertisers targeting a nine year old. Typically the defenses are not as developed for a child and I don't always trust the messages being delivered to these younger audiences. But this has been a problem for years on the television. Why are all these kids asking for designer products?
Google and others are spending millions to find ways of of obtaining our "likes" so that advertisers can get then target us. The Web and social media such as Facebook are relatively new. Consumer groups have not yet been able to place the needed controls on it. I believe that these controls will come. But better yet, as audiences become more demanding, the social media competition will look to deliver products that are less evasive. The only problem here is that advertisers are the ones that keep Google and others in business. Who will pay for new developments? A pay-for-use service guaranteeing no advertisements would be attractive to many but not to all. The beauty with Facebook is that most students and many adults are using it. Friends are plentiful. So what is the answer? There are some ways we can limit the information that users collect such as deleting 'cookies' on one's computer. Often your likes and dislikes are stored there.
Who is going to pay for future social media sites. I believe there needs to be a balance. Some controls are necessary but not enough to scare away the advertisers. This medium continues to be a great way to share information and its uses in the classroom are just in the early stages.
Your point about advertiser's targeting nine year olds really hits home. I have a six and four year old at home. When they watch television, especially if it isn't PBS, the amount of commercials on is astounding. Everytime something new is advertised, she asks me, "Can we buy that, mommy?". I always say no and that we don't need everything we see on tv. Now if she asks me, I ask her what she thinks I will say, and she knows the answer.
ReplyDeleteI think by teaching our children what is acceptable and not, then sooner or later they will understand our values. Other people may not have any issue with the amount of advertising that is directed toward children. I think that just like you, we learn to sift through it all. However, if there is no parental guidance provided, then are the companies socially responsible for their actions?
John,
ReplyDeleteI too am concerned about exposing children to advertisements and about the information that is collected about us. I wonder though if password protected educational social networking sights like Edmodo have ads and if they have "cookies." I tried to look, but would have to sign up to see and didn't want to at this time.