What the Myspace Generation Should Know About Working for Free

Trebor ScholzAssociate ProfessorDepartment of Media StudySUNY at Buffalo

MITApril 28, 2008

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2007

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Exploitation of Labor on the Social Web

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Exploitation of Labor on the Social Web

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Exploitation of Labor on the Social Web

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Andrew Ross, 2003

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1999

1995

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16,000

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http://www.ntticc.or.jp/Exhibition/2006/ConnectingWorld/artist.html

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consumer

user/customizer

participant

producer

1980s 1990s 2004 2007

art on corporate platforms

artist as cultural context provider

net art

folkloristic mass creativity

artist as tool builder

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In Second Life, the consumer actually co–innovates and coproduces

the products they consume.

Tapscott and Williams, 2007. Wikinomics, p. 126

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Чмо = Insignificant individualAbbreviation for человек московской области

person from the Moscow suburbs

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Women aged 25-34

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1986

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Steve Chen, Chad Hurley October 09, 2006

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Google Adsense Data Mining

Alpha Users

Social Life ExitBanner Ads

communication facilities

user-submitted content

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Google 16,805 (Dec 31, 2007)

CBS: 32,160BBC (UK alone): 28,000

Yahoo 13,600 (Oct 18, 2007)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahoo!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AOL

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google

Employees

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Googlehttp://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/global500/2006/snapshots/1529.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC

AOL8,000

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The key is managing the marriage of money and nonmoney

without making nonmoney feel like a sucker.

In the YouTube economy, everyone is free to play, but only a few reap the rewards.

Nicholas Carr, 2008. The Big Switch, p. 247.

Yochai Benkler, 2006. Wealth of Networks

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Lawrence Lessig, WSJ: May 2007

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GoogleNewsCorpYahoo

1.1 bn users

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captive community

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from: Lawrence Lessig, Free Culture

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ethical dune walking

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Pleasure of creation

Friendships

Social status/micro-fameLife experience

Memories

Referral

JobsDates

Greater good

Social enjoyment

Identity

Informal mentorship

Market research

Unwanted content (ads)

Breach of the social contract

Spam

Monetization of presence, labor, life itself

Capture of community“Glass customer”

Job losses

Centralization: “Berlusconi effect”

Opt-Out DefaultExpectations for quick response

Time

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Example: Facebook’s Beacon

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Opt-out as default

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The Power of Users

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Sky NewsApril 2008 citizen submission

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entering all your books as labor but social contract: but data go free, privacy |

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Kevin Killian1500 reviews

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Challenge and detourn the complex power dynamics of the Social Web

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THANK YOU

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