Terms of service
Subtitle: social media and the price of constant connection
By: Jacob Silverman
Edition: First edition.
Publisher: Harper, an imprint of Harper Collins Publishers
Published: 2015
Language: eng
Number of pages: 429
ISBN-13: 9780062282460
Subjects: Social aspects; Moral and ethical aspects; Right of Privacy; Electronic surveillance; Information technology
Description: "Social networking has grown into a staple of modern society, but its continued evolution is becoming increasingly detrimental to our lives. Shifts in communication and privacy are affecting us more than we realize or understand. Terms of Service crystallizes the current moment in technology and contemplates its implications: the identity-validating pleasures and perils of online visibility; our newly adopted view of daily life through the lens of what is share-worthy; and the surveillance state operated by social media platforms--Facebook, Google, Twitter, and others--to mine our personal data for advertising revenue: an invasion of our lives that is as pervasive as government spying. Jacob Silverman calls for social media users to take back ownership of their digital selves from the Silicon Valley corporations who claim to know what's best for them. Integrating politics, sociology, national security, pop culture, and technology, he reveals the surprising conformity at the heart of Internet culture, explaining how social media companies engineer their products to encourage shallow engagement and discourage dissent. Reflecting on the collapsed barriers between our private and public lives, Silverman brings into focus the inner conflict we feel when deciding what to share and what to "like," and explains how we can take the steps we need to free ourselves from its grip."--Publisher description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: The ideology of social; title: Engineered to like; title: Pics or it didn't happen; title: The viral dream; title: Churnalism and the problem of social news; title: To watch and be watched; title: The war against identity; title: The reputation racket; title: Life and work in the sharing economy; title: Digital serfdom; or, we all work for Facebook; title: The myth of privacy; title: Big Data and the informational appetite; title: Social-media rebellion.