The positioning of the Social Media is “power to share and to make the world more open and connected”. The reality however is “your personal data is our commodity for sale and the real deal is hidden from you”.

The perception of the Social Media is “give everyone equal power to create and share ideas and information”, but the reality is “hierarchies of ownership and reputation create asymmetries of voice and visibility”.

The pretence is ‘WE’, but the real is ‘I’

The fact that user data is sold as a commodity to advertisers and other ‘interested’ clients is hidden behind the ‘social’ cover. The users do not pay for accessing LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Google or YouTube. The obtained use-value seems to be the immediate social experience these platforms enable (ability for communicating, publishing creative expressions, collaborating, networking etc using the platforms). The commodity character of personal data does not become immediately apparent because the user is not involved in the exchange of money neither for the use-values that the user experiences nor in the trade of user data between the Social Media companies and their Clients.

The commodity form takes place without an exchange that users are involved in: the platforms sell usage data to the clients, who in return for paying money get targeted access to users’ profiles which are used for ‘targeted advertising’ or ‘targeted propaganda messaging’. For one, the most valuable information commodities for social media firms are derived from users’ involuntarily and unknowingly ceded personal data – that is, from user-generated data (not the user-generated content as such) such as likes, searches, forwards, profiles being followed etc. This is a perfect ‘anti-thesis’ of the ‘preached’ values that the Social Media projects such as open, empowering, shared and equal.

Social Media of course provides a great platform to advance liberating ideas and is a powerful tool of communication, collaboration and creative expression in the hands of the common people. However, within the present system, it has become another marketplace for profiteering and extends exploitation of digital labour and siphons of user data to be sold as commodities. The Social Media, just like their Mass Media counterparts, is under the corporate ownership (and not really ‘social’ and ‘free’) and is being (mis)used as a tool for manipulating the mass. Unless the ownership is truly with the people and the media really become ‘Social’ in its true sense, the full potential of Social Media may never be realised.

-Suresh Kodoor