In The Age of Platforms, the author begins by talking about what it means to go “off the grid.” 30 years ago, if people had heard about how much effort it would take to become as disconnected we were in 1986, I think they would have been shocked. Even just in the last 10 years, the interconnected nature of our lives has evolved exponentially with the advent of social networks, smartphones, and widespread wireless broadband internet. Especially in the lives of students and those involved in careers focused on technology, we are required by our social circles, jobs, and education to be on the internet, alive and active.
It amazes me how quickly this became the norm, how quickly it jumped from a world in which I went outside to play with other kids on the block to one in which increasingly younger children spend a majority of their time on a screen. Today, the average American holds in their hand Facebook, Twitter, a web browser, all the music they could imagine, and the ability to share their thoughts and feelings with anyone they desire (and many that they do not intend to). The Age of Platforms attributes the success of these platforms to their interconnectedness. Facebook is not just a way to keep in touch with friends. It is now a source of news for many. It is now a way to find recipes. It is now a simple web browser. It is now a game center. It is now a nervous tick for most people I know. Bored? Slip your phone out of your pocket and scroll indefinitely.
The same of Facebook could be said of many of the major tech companies today. Google holds nearly all services of the modern age. Email, education, Youtube, browsers, and all your personal information are now the domain of Google. This ubiquity of an entity is truly unheard of before today. Never before has something offered such a litany of services to nearly anyone.
Why are these platforms so widely accepted and used? Why are they not questioned or considered before their use? Likely because of the new type of business plan introduced by these platforms. These services are all free. People do not pay for Facebook or Gmail or Youtube (in most cases). Instead, these companies reap their massive revenue from advertisements linked integrally into their platforms. Facebook, between things you may or may not care about, includes a “sponsored post” or a “suggested post,” a fancy word for ads tailored specifically to you. These platforms use this information that people voluntarily, willingly, and sometimes unknowingly give away to create an experience made custom by advanced algorithms specifically for the customer. This strategy is not unique to only a few services. Free to Play games, sponsored content on websites, and suggested products litter out online experience these days, and it is working extremely well. This is likely not to leave us anytime soon.
Although Google and Facebook may not live forever, their business plan likely will. In an upward trend with no sign of slowing down, information is the newest commodity, and is given away by most without a second thought. If this happened in 10 or 20 years, what will the world look like 10 or 20 years from now? 30? 40? 100? It is frightening to consider how the world might change within our lifetime.