Me as labour on social media
Waking up, turning on phone and scrolling on social media–this is the first thing I would do in a day. I cannot live without Internet since high school, and sometimes I even think that we are not live with media but live in the media. Reflecting on my day of using media platforms, numerous social media comes into my minds. Normally I would check WeChat first to see if there are some messages from my family or friends that needs to be replied. For the next step, I would turn to Instagram and little red book to see the view of my posts and if there’s any increase in likes and comments, tracking the data from the platform manage page. In this case, I am also a free labour contributing to different media platforms at the same time. A two-way commodified process is underway on social media sites: as customers are attracted and enjoy the connection of using social media, their information is also collected and sold to advertisement companies, creating new profits that generates value In another word, I work for WeChat, Instagram and Xiaohongshu in every time I use the app and post new information. Via my interaction in media, even though I seem to have done nothing but just surfing the net, my click through rate of every post or e-commerce product create values for business organizations and become part of the digital economy. Audience power is produced in this case since all actions online can be estimated, consumed, and sold at a price as commodity.
Case study: Mechanism of making profit on little red book (xiaohongshu)
Xiaohongshu is a social media and e-commerce platform. As of 2019, Xiaohongshu had over 300 million users and over 85 milliom active users. 70% of users are born after 1990 and 90% of them are females. The app allows users and influencers to post, discover and share product reviews, mostly related to beauty and health, therefore, it is also known as “Chinese females’ google”. Travel bloggers are also suggested regularly post content about tourism and holiday destinations on the platform. Xiaohongshu also operates RED Mall, which sells oversea products to Chinese customers.
The main revenue of the Xiaohongshu platform is mainly composed of two parts: advertising and e-commerce, the share is 80% and 20%, respectively. Another way of making profit is through the live e-commerce activities, selling goods in the online store owned by different brands and self-owned mall. But these profit models are inseparable from the users themselves. High quality of female users with purchasing power and the large number of daily active users have created a good reputation of Xiaohongshu, which in turn attracts brands and advertisers’ attention. As content producers and viewers, we are creating business value for the Xiaohongshu platform.
Are we equally being rewarded as “labour”?
This question might raise controversial discussion. On one hand, we are using social media “for free”, but on the other hand, it comes at a price of collecting personal data and sell it in the market. Therefore, A few problems need to be address: Does data have the same value while trading as opposed to being used by a single company? Is it equal that companies are collecting data while it provides “free services” to online users? I think it is somehow equal and it is a mutual way of gaining profit. Though my personal information is collected by algorithms, I enjoy using the technology and being praised by “my contributions”, for example, my posts might be exposed to the public, seemed by different audiences, and receive branding advertisements from PR agencies. Therefore, the platform also gives normal people a place to share their opinion and enable start-up companies to begin business at a low-cost way. These opportunities are all reply on the media platform, as we are being taken away of information, we can also make profits from the platform at the same time, and eventually enables the possibilities of reaching at a win-win situation.