I have been using Instagram for several years now. In fact, the first app I open in the morning is Instagram. I, one of the many, also interact with the platform by generating and circulating content online
Today I woke up, scrolled through my Instagram feed, while sipping my coffee, liked a lot of pictures, saw some videos on my explore page. Saw some ads – one was from an app called Vinted (they are a platform where people can sell their clothes to give them a new life, like thrifting.), next ad I remember seeing was from amazon, and I also saw an ad by getir_uk (this ad I have seen multiple times a day.) These ads are indicative of my online behaviour. It is what marketers call ‘personalised retargeting’.
I use Instagram for multiple things. To record and archive my life in images, to share posts and videos and interact with friends back home and in London. While my profile is very private, I tend to share many personal details on the app. But, this doesn’t stop the advertisers from tracking my online behavioural patterns. I, as a user, generate information that is constantly collected, examined, sold, and presented back to me in the form of targeted advertisements.
As the researcher Matthew P. McAllister has pointed out, “Social media offer businesses new, boundary-pushing opportunities to tap into people’s online activity by collecting enormous amounts of personal information and seamlessly integrating advertising and social networks.” Users formerly only valued as consumers are now a part of the production process. On these social media platforms, consumers become producers of content, integral to the platform’s existence. It is worth mentioning that the users participate voluntarily in these activities and rather enjoy posting and engaging online. But this productivity is transformed into profit by these media giants.
“The sites then capitalize on the time users spend participating in the communicative activity.”
Matthew P. McAllister
Now that value is generated by content creation, they also generate a new commodity form, known as ‘cybernetic commodity‘. Dallas Smythe was the first to identify the role the audience plays for media companies. “The notion of double commodification speaks to the dual role of social media users: a source of free labour as well as providers of information that is sold for profit or used in the process of profit generation. This practice reflects larger patterns of capitalist exploitation, under which general social relations are increasingly becoming productive.” Therefore now engaging with social media sites has been conceptualised as free labour or unpaid work time – it provides monetary value.
Consumption and Production have blurred lines because of user-generated content, we are calling it labour not because we are creating free content, but also because we are creating ‘information commodities‘.
These sites collect cookies, which track text and patterns on the website. These tools enable advertisers to personalise targetting. Advertisers can learn about what you view online, and deliver a related advertisement in real-time, tailored to your location, income, shopping interests, etc. This surveillance culture is prominent to promote behavioural targetting, an intrusion to privacy but sold as capital.
We as users/labourers do not have any control over how this data is used and indicates the significant power imbalance at work. It makes me think about how I am not rewarded, in any way, for the commodity that I produce. However, this process of value extraction through the commodification of data is a fair demonstration of Platform Capitalism. We scroll and post for leisure but it’s actually work. It is a type of work where the process of commodification extends beyond the traditional workplace and wage-labour relationship, extracting value from ever-widening aspects of our lives with just a couple of likes as a reward.
The capture of productive activity online reflects the condition of value extraction in contemporary capitalism, where work seeps into leisure time and leisure time becomes work, where autonomous communicative creation and alienation overlap, and, critically, where processes of commodification extend beyond the traditional workplace and wage-labour relationship, extracting value from ever-widening aspects of our lives.