History and Theory of New Media

It’s hard for me to think about the impacts of media on society without media ecology theory as the basic framework with which to describe these relationships. My proposed path of inquiry this semester will be a deep dive into media ecology as well as how our current media landscape triggers tangible changes in behavior, relationships, ideology, and our physical environment.

That is a quote from one of my previous posts, written in late January. I have since then completed my final paper on this topic, and my final blog post here will be one of reflection. Continue reading Philosophical Statement

My path of inquiry leads me to the study of data as a component in a broader media ecosystem. One of the books I am currently reading (Hello World: Being Human in the Age of Algorithms by Hannah Fry) has a section devoted to data and, in this section, a story about Tesco that served as the inspiration for this post.

Back in 1995, Tesco (a British grocery store chain) introduced a loyalty card to customers that would allow them to earn points based on their purchases. Tesco would benefit by gathering data on customers based on shopping preferences. As the loyalty program grew both in scope and popularity, so did its features (such as customized coupons based on data, and later, personalized online shopping lists). Tesco itself also grew; the loyalty program catapulted the chain ahead of its main rival.

These days, loyalty programs can be found with almost every retailer, even smaller independent stores. The physical card itself is no longer a requirement, slowly becoming an artifact from decades past (yikes!). Now, customers can provide their cell phone numbers, or email addresses, to log their in-store and online purchases.

The same logic behind loyalty programs exists in other ways today as well. When browsing the web, even if you are not logged in to your account on a retailer’s website, you may find that as you continue to browse other pages, you’ll spot ads related to products you had previously viewed elsewhere.

This type of advertising, made possible by cookies, is an evolution of the first Tesco loyalty card.

Fry describes cookies as a “little tiny flag” that “acts like a signal to all kinds of other websites around the internet” of the types of products or services you might be interested in based on your browsing history. Data brokers guide these connections from behind the scenes, harvesting and holding the data that may be eventually be sold to companies marketing their wares online. The ecosystem behind loyalty cards and cookies is not the same, and the mechanisms in which each work are not the same, but the goal is the same: to know more about the consumer, to sell better to that consumer.

Getting special perks through loyalty programs always feels like a delight. Seeing promo codes or reduced pricing on an item online that you planned on purchasing eventually almost makes shopping feel like stealing. But in the end, the true beneficiaries of these marketing strategies are the companies themselves, and the brokers who mediate these transactions on their behalf- not yours.

Fry, Hannah. Hello World: Being Human in the Age of Algorithms. W.W. Norton & Company, 2018.

 

The following information applies to this blog (newmedia.tech.blog) as well as any research or media projects created in conjunction with or showcased on this blog for one of my classes this semester (History & Theory of New Media, SUNY Empire State College).

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Speaking of bias, I try to be as objective as I can when writing about these topics, but I do have biases that I am aware of, and some which I am not aware of. I encourage readers to point out these biases, opening dialogue with me and hopefully exploring these topics in depth in the spirit of fairness and impartiality.

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