"How dare you to think you can own me? You can have my body, but never my soul!" may be a typical line from a Latin soap opera, but probably not the case with uSocial, an Australian online-marketing company that recommends potential friends to companies, after having trawled Facebook for users by criteria like age, location and interests. This is because, once you fall into the vicious network of uSocial (in other words, agree to be its friend), you are sold, both your cyber body and soul, to those companies who are willing to pay about 15 cents for you. So, if you are wondering, that is pretty much how much you are worth online. uSocial also sells Twitter followers to companies looking for the ever so desperately sought positive buzz.
The article I came across the Economist, September 19th issue, discusses whether the idea of selling friends makes for good marketing. Does purchasing friends or fans establish brand loyalty? How likely are you to bribe a friend to make them come to your party? Does that mean they will enjoy that party? Or is it more like you are demeaning your own idea of entertainment by making yourself seem so desperate? I think the bigger harm might be that websites like Twitter and Facebook may lose popularity if users feel that they are being 'used' for advertising, instead of being care-freely stalked and gossiped about. uSocial would not want to upend the big guys' revenue sources. Oh no.
Even though it is up to you to decide what you want to do with that body and soul, keep in mind the virtues of uSocial's business plan.
No comments:
Post a Comment