Tag: online media

Think Big: Silicon Valley & The Soft Singularity of ‘Digital Telepathy’


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

A long time ago, when dinosaurs still walked the earth, I was in college and obsessed with this thing called the Internet. This was before the World Wide Web. This was back when having an email address was, in itself, something of a future shock.

Flash forward to the present day and, meh, we’ve been in a technological holding pattern for about a decade now. Sure, a lot of apps have been designed, but the basic thing that powers it all hasn’t changed in over a decade: the smartphone.

Now, here’s where things get tricky.

I think Big Tech has figured out a way to read our minds. And, what’s more, they’re getting kind of brazen about it because, I mean, who’s going to believe that our phones are reading our minds? And, let me be clear, I absolutely hate conspiracy theories. I think they’re the last refuge of the intellectually dishonest. So, I’m very reluctant to think what I’m saying I think: that Big Tech can read or minds and they’re using that ability on the DL to sell us ads.

And, really, this would not be that big a deal real terms — at least not now — but for one thing: Tik-Tok. It’s at least possible that the Chinese government, through Tik-Tok is rummaging around in the minds of American’s youth via Tik-Tok. I say this because of all the services I suspect can read our minds, Tik-Tok is the absolute most brazen.

They really push it. I think about something once without telling anyone else and lo and behold, I get a pushed a video or ad about that subject the next time I log on to the service. This is not to say there aren’t plenty of other ways they’re figuring me out. They’re probably listening to me via my phone. They’re probably monitoring every way I use my phone and using algorithms to figure me out. I get all that. THAT makes sense.

It’s when I get pushed something on Tik-Tok that seems to not only reference something from within my internal monologue, but takes it to the next level of referencing, say, the appetence of a lost love that is floating around in my mind all the time. How does an algorithm figure THAT out?

And, if you want to got that route, if “algorithms” have gotten that advanced, then that, in itself, is a serious issue. That’s not an algorithm, that’s AI and that needs to be discussed and, if necessary, regulated.

Or, put another way, I’m beginning to think we’ve already reached a “Soft Singularity.” A combination of oligarchy, greed and fear of the public’s reaction is causing Big Tech to keep this fact away from the average person. But it seems that if they keep fucking leaning into their ability to Black Mirror shit that there will, at some point, come a moment of reckoning.

But I’m a nobody. No one listens to me.

The Coming Era Of Mega Media

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

The more I think about it, the more it makes sense that we’re one recession away from something extraordinary happening to the worlds of telecommunications and content production and distribution. Once Net Neutrality is officially dead, the issue of access and content will again fuse like it did back when Yahoo ruled the online world.

At the core of it all is the cold hard fact that online advertising is based on a lie started by Wired on Hotwired about 1994 when they did the first banner ad. Online advertising is a lie because, well, it doesn’t work and never has. The whole thing is a lie. People just don’t notice online ads and usually when they click on then, it’s by accident. Of course, that causes companies to come up with any number of different ways to fake you out and present you with ads they feel you’ll want because of your online behavior. That, in fact, is the entire business model of Facebook and to a lesser extent Google (as I understand it.)

What I believe is going to happen is this — the top three Websites (Amazon, Google, Facebook) are going to buy the top three access companies (AT&T, Verizon, Comcast) within the next two, maybe four years max. Once that happens, a basic problem of the post-Net Neutrality world is fixed. What will happen is these new mega media companies will buy up all the smaller players they can find and begin to give consumers a wide-array of package options while making sure their individual offerings are part of the “basic” package.

So, here’s how it would work out in real terms — 80% of the population would be covered by three mega companies when it comes to access. The battle between these three mega media companies will likely be blood thirsty because they know once they lock you into their package offering, you’re unlikely to ever leave. These three mega media companies will have a vested interest in having as wide a selection of content as possible because they know if you have to pay to access content not owned by your mega media company you’ll be angry and maybe even switch companies. But at it core, you’ll have three options: commerce (Amazon), social media (Facebook) and, well, Google (Google.)

Let’s pause to reflect on what a direct battle between these three mega media companies would look like. Google obviously has the means, motive and opportunity to do a lot of damage simply because it has the resources. Now, let me be clear — all of this is back of the envelope predicting. I’m simply observing that companies who up till now have based their entire existence and business model on consumers having “free” access to them will have every reason to buy an access company once Net Neutrality dies. There’s always a chance that Google et al will find being access companies too much of a hassle and they’ll simply subside consumers access to them instead of buying an access company.

But having said all that — a direct battle between Amazon, Google and Facebook would be jaw-dropping. It would make a lot of sense if they bought up small and medium content providers so flesh out their offerings. The crux, again, is what would be the “basic” offering for your $60 a month Internet bill. That’s where it gets really interesting. It’s possible that in a weird way we’ll return to the days of three major broadcast TV companies, only online. The idea of a “portal” will come back in a big way, but with a completely different context. Everything in the “portal” you subscribe to will be throw in with your access bill and everything owned by a competing mega media company will cost more.

Things like email suddenly become very important again because access and content will be fused. It definitely makes a lot of sense that Verizon would buy both AOL and Yahoo and then, like, uh….park them. Maybe they have a hunch that portals will come back again and suddenly be very valuable? Why by *two* major ancient Internet brands. Could be they’re just misguided and lucky, because I could definitely see both AOL and Yahoo becoming valuable assets again.

Some wild cards exist in this new era. What does Apple do? What happens to Twitter, Spotify and Netflix? That’s going to be interesting to see how all of that shakes out. Once these tectonic forces kick in, Apple may feel forced to swoop in and change everything, buying, say AT&T after a bidding war with Facebook? Apple does have gobs and gobs of money and there comes a point where you make more money off of investing than interest on your savings. And I have a hunch Facebook would only get into the access business and turn itself into a portal if it felt an existential threat after the end of Net Neutrality.

I do think that the rise of mega media companies will possibly herald a new age of prosperity for small and media companies online for no other reason than, well, their original owners will cash out, they won’t be independent anymore and their content will be provided as a value added service in the context of any number of segmented Internet access plans. And, remember, none of this is going to happen in a straight line. One the next recession strikes and access companies feel they can begin to screw over consumers in a big way, it’s very likely mass chaos and panic will strike while things get sorted out. So it could be very ad hoc in nature and done gradually over the next, say, 5 years in such a way that only in hindsight will we realize what’s happened.

And, as I keep saying, MX is just over the horizon. In other words, once VR / AR takes off in a big way, everything will be reset and all of this I’m talking about will be very, very moot.

Shelton Bumgarner is a writer and photographer living in Richmond, Va. He is working on his first novel. He may be reached at migukin (at) gmail (dot) com.

Creative Destruction: What Happens When Online Advertising Finally Fails

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

I have been using the Internet since about 1994. I remember when using e-mail was a novel concept, one that was difficult to explain to the average person. Anyway, over 20 years later, we finally have come to a crossroads. After experimenting with video and after Facebook has gotten into a huge amount of trouble because of its systemic abuse of users’ data, it’s slowly becoming obvious that we might be about to enter a new age in online media.

One where you have to, like, pay, to consume it.

Before I got any farther, let me make some observations. One, I’m aware that there’s a growing trend towards paywalls for online media. Two, nothing I’m about to write would indicate that in the short term newspapers are going to rebound. Newspapers — except The New York Times and The Washington Post — are doomed unless they do something really, really, really radical. I’ve proposed they put all their content into an app, but no one listens to me.

Anyway, the point is, there may come a point when what is self-evident — that online advertising isn’t a viable business model — will become so glaringly obvious that what probably should have been done, what would have been done but for Netscape in 1994, will happen: virtually every website, be in social media or otherwise, will have some sort of subscription model.

What would be the consequences of this?

Well, if you throw in the death of net neutrality in the coming days, it seems pretty obvious that agreements will spring up between the telecoms who provide Internet access and the content providers. So, a complex — meant to confuse — series of plans will spring up with the explicit point of screwing the consumer over to the greatest existent possible. But gradually there’s at least the possibility that content providers and service providers will figure out some sort of sweet spot for access to content. Probably what will happen is sometime between now and 2020 there will be a tipping point and all hell will break loose. I would suggest it will be when for various reasons Facebook finally converts to some sort of subscription model. Initially, this will hurt Facebook a great deal, with a similar, free service coming at it — and doing quite well. But after the shock wears off, I would predict there will be something of a gold rush on the part of content providers and service providers as they squeeze every nickle they can out of hapless consumers.

So, by about 2020, not only will you be paying for different speed levels, you also be paying for 99% of the content you want to access on the Internet. This will, in itself, create a new, more mature ecosystem for the media industry. Having a subscription-based economy is something that media companies can understand.

But, like I said, I just don’t see newspapers being able to take advantage of this opportunity. Other than The New York Times and The Washington Post, I see most newspapers will gradually grow either completely based on the AP or vanish altogether. But a new breed of online content provider — one built from the ground up on the assumption you’ll pay, say, $5-$19.99 a month (year?) for access to their content — will arise. It may take a few years, but it’s going to happen the way things are going.

This, of course, doesn’t even begin to address how AR/VR will influence things. It could be that just about the moment when subscription services take off, AR/VR will slam into it and make everything I’ve just written painfully moot.