Scholz
Good evening class my name is Karen and our group discussion was on the Trebor Scholz’s Digital Labor. Our group came to the conclusion that sites like Facebook are using our information to benefit big companies. Our like, search history and our status updates are all being use to sell us products we might or might not need. The differences between work and leisure is simple we get pay for one and we pay for the other. In today’s media obsess society the line between work and leisure seems to get blur. Scholz writes, “Harry Potters fans produce fan fiction and give their creative work away for free in exchange for being ignored by the corporation.” In this case the product that the Harry Potter fans are producing is being created at their leisure. The point that Scholz makes reminds me of how social media is working to benefit big companies. We are consistently using our free time to advertise without getting paying. This is where things get complicated because we can’t ask companies to pay us for doing something they didn’t ask for. Unless you become a social media sensation we the customer will be over looked and will be use as free advertisement if we keep posting and liking. It’s a complicated relationship because while some of us aren’t getting pay for our “work” others are getting pay for posting and liking. Such as, Youtube stars what was once a site for funny cat videos and how to videos it is now a tool that companies are using to sell their products. People who were once like us liking and posting on their own are selling us these products. Unless you’re a social media sensation you will not get pay for advertising on a companies behave.
