Week 8: Digital labour in platform economies

During the course of one day, document and then reflect upon the ‘labour’ that you have performed as a consequence of your everyday social media usage, and on the mechanisms that platforms use use to extract profit from the data you have contributed. Do you think you are adequately rewarded for this ‘work’?

Digital labour and social media

Today, the increasing popularity of social media has even given rise to the career ambitions of many digital players. Although social media platforms initially positioned users’ activities as entertainment or recreation, these activities have evolved into economically productive labor. Digital participants create considerable economic value for platforms and brands by writing reviews and participating in advertising competitions. However, behind this monetary value is often the fact that digital participants regard their actions as pleasurable self-expression, but ultimately become part of “free labor”. This phenomenon reveals the complex duality between enjoyment and exploitation (Duffy, 2017, pp. 46-47). To study this, I recorded the data of my daily “labor” using Instagram to analyze how the platform uses data to gain profits.

My labour on social media

I use Instagram mainly for fun, like sharing my daily life and watching videos. The platform stores all my activity on the app, most of which comes from my personal “posts,” “likes” and “comments” on other people’s reels. However, whether these daily usage behaviors of mine can be called “free labor” deserves further discussion.

Firstly, my transaction with Instagram was essentially completed at the very beginning. As a user, I provide data on the social media platform in exchange for the right to access and use Instagram’s features. Therefore, the so-called “free labor” is not truly free but rather a form of exchange where I receive the benefit of enjoying the entertainment and functionality offered by the platform.

However, since I do not invest as much time and effort as full-time creators in this situation, I believe the return I receive is roughly proportional to my apparent contribution. The reason I say “apparent contribution” is because, as a user, my contribution (data) is being utilized in ways that I cannot see, with the platform using it as a cost to generate profit. The mechanism through which social media platforms profit from user-contributed data is inherently unfair, as these platforms only offer the enjoyment of creative self-expression as a return to users. In reality, this “enjoyment” becomes a profit tool for the platform, which ultimately exploits the contributions of users.

The platform’s mechanism for extracting profits

The platform generates profit by monetizing the data it collects from users. When users engage with Instagram, they agree to allow the platform to use various tools, such as cookies, to collect their data. These tools track users’ online behavior and help the platform serve targeted ads when users perform subsequent actions. The platform monetizes users’ interaction data (Cohen, 2013, p. 183), such as likes, comments, and shares—by using it to enhance the precision of targeted advertising.

While allowing the platform to collect user data is a condition for using social media, this process leads to what can be called “double commodification.” Behind users’ backs, the platform sells user group data to advertisers, commodifying their “attention” or “access rights.” This creates a situation where users, while enjoying entertainment content, are continuously exposed to ads, thus unknowingly contributing their “attention” to the platform. This “attention” is then utilized by the platform for profit, with no compensation provided to the users who generate it.

Assuming that I spend an average of 1 minute watching a video on Instagram, this means that in the 49 minutes, I spend on the platform, only half of that time is for entertainment, while the other half is unknowingly contributed to the platform’s profit mechanism. Additionally, although Instagram offers options like ad preferences that allow users to freely provide their data, this “freedom” is actually limited. I have no control over how my data will ultimately be used.

Unfortunately, using social media to share daily life and stay connected with family and friends has become widespread. But if I choose to reject social media to avoid exploitation, does it come at a greater cost?

reference:

• lDuffy, B. E. (2017) ‘(Not) just for the fun of it: The labour of social media production’, (Not) Getting Paid to Do What You Love: Gender, Social Media, and Aspirational Work. Yale Univ. Press.
• lCohen, N. (2013) Ch.13: ‘Commodifying free labor online: social media, audiences, and advertising’, in E. West and M. McAllister (eds) The Routledge Companion to Advertising and Promotional Culture. New York: Routledge.