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Advertisers: Guide to The Digital World

Influencers.

The digital world has broadened the horizon of marketing techniques with the use of algorithms, social media influencers offer one of the best marketing skills. Influencers breakdown the regimented barrier between media producers and consumers; introducing an informal relationship whereby which they,‘attract and maintain..followings on social media platforms’ (Crystal, 2018. p.80) through ‘personalised content’ (Crystal, 2018. p. 72). With this ‘established’ (Crystal, 2018. p.71) credibility in a specific industry, influencers are able to form an emotional attachment with their followers based on trust.

This once transient fame can now transpire into a career path. ‘Online and mainstream celebrity cultures are now weaving together’(Crystal, 2018. p.73). Influencers are internet celebrities. As discussed in Crystal Abidin’s book ‘Internet Celebrity: Understanding Fame Online’, influencers have capitalised on society’s dependancy to admire those of higher status than ourselves. In doing so, influencers project an opulent lifestyle to be desired, from the clothes they wear to the car fragrance they use.

According to the Wall Street Journal.

‘Advertisers can’t ignore social media’ (Kapner and Terlep, 2019). The digital world has created a space whereby consumers have ultimate control in terms of what content they want to see and how they want to see it. Dominating this current platform are influencers. Using this to their advantage ‘companies .. funnel’ (Kapner and Terlep, 2019) large funds directly to influencers who represent their industry field; in exchange influencers ‘pitch’ (Kapner and Terlep, 2019) products to their followers. Resulting in purchases of products.

The trickery of influencers.

As marketing systems go, this seems pretty smooth; but like any other prototype there are expected issues. As discussed by By Suzanne Kapner and Sharon Terlep, influencers are under constant fire in regards to how genuine they truly are. What would you expect when people are bombarded with selected content that only projects a well orchestrated lifestyle. Influencers are ‘just doing it for the money’. (Kapner and Terlep, 2019)

That damn sandwich.

Does this image jog your memory. (DeHaas, 2017)  

Influencers from the likes of Kendall Jenner to Emily Ratajkowski were among some of the influencers who were paid upwards of ‘$250,000 (£206,561)- $299,000 (£247,111)’ (Petter, 2019) to promote ‘the notorious Bahamas event’ (Petter, 2019)  Fyre Festival in 2017 on social media. As well as deceiving audience with promotional content that falsely advertised a fraudulent event. Influencers also failed to disclose to their followers that the promotional content was in fact paid. Later these influencers were sued.

So what’s the message.

Advertiser! Get on social media platforms, use influencers to your advantage to engage your intended audience.

But:

Only promote truthful content that reflects your actual product

Do assure that your influencers disclose that the promotional content is in fact an advert, to prevent misleading audiences

Don’t do a ‘Fyre Festival ‘

Bibliography

Abidin, Crystal (2018) Internet Celebrity: Understanding Fame Online’,Jönköping University, Sweden: Emerald Publishing Limited

Kapner, S  and Terlep, S (2019) ‘Online Influencers Tell You What to Buy, Advertisers Wonder Who’s Listening’, The Wall Street Journal . 20th October, page 3.

DeHaas, T. (2017) Twitter . [Online] Available at: https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/nza8yq/that-photo-of-the-fyre-festival-sandwich-is-fake

Petter, Olivia (2019) ‘KENDALL JENNER AND EMILY RATAJKOWSKI ‘SUED’ FOR PROMOTING FYRE FESTIVAL’ Independent , 2nd September, p.2

Algorithms.

Algorithms usurp an ‘ubiquitous part of contemporary life’ (David, 2018. p148). Through ‘routinely tracking…browser behaviour’ (Bucher, 2016. p.1), a users feed is presented to them in a way that will achieve ultimate pleasure from their experience of strolling through Facebook. Using ‘cybernetic categorisation’ (Bucher, 2016. p.12) Facebook attempts to drive ‘meaningful interactions’.

Why should advertisers care.

From developing an understanding of algorithms advertisers stand to gain more effective content. By achieving a more intimate documentation of their cliental ‘by virtue of their habits, experiences and personalities’ (Bucher, 2016. p.3) through online experience.

As commented on by Taina Bucher our daily digital life is full algorithmic ‘selected’ (Bucher, 2016. p.2) content. Through an orchestrated social experiment, it is understood that much of this content is ‘encountered through invisibilities’ (David, 2018. p144). Explained in Bucher’s ‘The Algorithmic Imagery: Exploring the Ordinary Affects of Facebook Algorithm’s’ Bucher’s participants such as Jessa, who was  subject to personalised content after ‘regular talks’ (Bucher, 2016. p.1) about a particular product.

So what’s the problem.

‘The problem is that Facebook doesn’t offer free speech; it offers free amplification’ (Evans, 2019). On a timeline feed riddled with ideologies. ‘Strict chronological’ (Evans, 2019) feeds make for the highest paid advertisers content to be most visible on a user’s feed; as opposed to posts created by friends. Oddly this goes against the mission of Facebook, who aim to allow users to ‘stay connected with friends [sharing and expressing] what matters to them’.(Facebook, 2019). But with the highest bidder getting more attention what chance does the average user have.

Facebook Did A Naughty. (well kinda.)

The most toxic word association you could lay eyes on : “Facebook”, “data”, “harvested”, “weaponised”, “Trump” and… “Brexit”. (Cadwalladr, 2019).  Cambridge Analytica, managed just that; infiltrating ‘leaked’(Cadwalladr, 2019) data of ‘tens of millions’(Cadwalladr, 2019) Facebook users in order to ‘target them in political campaigns’(Cadwalladr, 2019). Although Cambridge Analytic took most of the brunt for this scandal, Facebook also had a massive part to play. THEY LEAKED OUR DATA. Okay, yes feel free to collect data on a user to tailor their feed in order to make them get the best experience out of your platform. But DON’T exploit us… it’s just not cool Zuckerberg. Unfortunately, as users we cannot prevent what happens to our given data but in scandals such as these it makes us more precautions of who we trust with it.

Algorithms as nice as they are at making user’s experience flawless, they can also help contribute to a ‘world of manipulation and [misuse of] power’(Cadwalladr, 2019).  Accumulated data from user by any media producer is essential in making a product stand out, making the platform feel as if it is custom made. But misuse of this data and exploitation of trust is harmful to the reputation of the business, which can lead to a loss in customer loyalty.

Bibliography

Bucher, Tania (2016) The algorithmic imaginary: exploring the ordinary affects of Facebook algorithms ,INFORMATION, COMMUNICATION & SOCIETY, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

Evans, Jon (2019) ‘Facebook isn’t free speech, it’s algorithmic amplification optimized for outrage’, TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2019/10/20/facebook-isnt-free-speech-its-algorithmic-amplification-optimized-for-outrage/

Facebook (2019/2019) Facebook Resources.Available at: https://investor.fb.com/resources/default.aspx (Accessed: December, 2019)

Beer, David (2018) The Social Power of Algorithms, Routledge, Milton Park

Cadwalladr, Carole (2019) The Great Hack: the film that goes behind the scenes of the Facebook data scandal. The Guardian. July 2019.Page 1

The Post Humanist subject.

As discussed by Katherine Halyes in her novel ‘ How We Became Posthuman Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature and Informatics’. The post humanist subject ‘is an amalgam’ (Halyes,1999 p.18) of human nature with  ‘machine intelligence’ (Halyes,1999 p.23), however in order to be considered post human ‘the subject’ (Halyes,1999 p.19) doesn’t have ‘to be a literal cyborg’(Halyes,1999 p.19). The difference between post humanist subject and  humans is the ability of ‘owing nothing to society’(Halyes,1999 p.21)based on informational data collected from it surrounding, it continues to develop off the back of others without any need to repay those who provided the information.

What point do we as humans reach the natural limit in regards to the development of the humanist subject, it is too important to be left to academics any more. Advertisers should be aware of the developments in this Industry, it’s okay to ignore science-fiction cliches but they are are projecting a not too distant future. A demonstration of the post humanist subject is Charlie Brooker’s ‘Black Mirror’, a compilation series that revolves around a group of people’s personal lives and how technology ‘manipulates their behaviour’ (Mullane, 2016). In particular the episode ‘Nosedive’ is set in a world that functions based on a rating system of one another, henceforth in order to avoid a lower rating ‘everyone is sickeningly nice to each other at all times’(Mullane, 2016). It may seem exaggerated, however it in essence is an Avantgarde reflection of our society. The higher rated you are, the ‘more privileged and better quality of life’ you will have. (Mullane, 2016)

So how does this link to the post-humanist subject?

The subject as referred to before usurps data from its environment. Our current environment capitalises on a hierarchal system were the metric of success is determined by likes and shares, if a post humanist subject was to adopt this nature and over power us society is at risk of ‘technological augmentation’ (Maziarczyk, 2018 p.126).  This would result in humans become slaves to the system; much like that of those in ‘Nosedive’

What has this got to do with advertisers?

Good question , as advertisers it is important to foresee what the future holds in regards to both the advertising industry and society itself. If advertisers were to adopt the same nature as post-humanist subjects such as understanding users mannerism potentially this could be beneficial.

Biblography

Halyes, Katherine (1999) How We Became Posthuman, London and Chicago: University of Chicago Press

Mullane, A. (2016). Black Mirror review: ‘Nosedive’ has biggest twist yet. [online] Digital Spy. Available at: https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/cult/a811645/black-mirror-season-3-review-the-surprise-climax-to-nosedive-is-the-shows-biggest-twist-yet/ [Accessed 16 Nov. 2019].

Maziarczyk, G. (2018). Transhumanist Dreams and/as Posthuman Nightmares in Black Mirror. Roczniki Humanistyczne, 66(11 Zeszyt specjalny), pp.125-136.