The Commodification of Personhood: Consumers' Increasing Value to Online Advertisers
In the present era of technology, the way trading is done has been transformed particularly online in a manner that is unheard of before. The former accustomed transactions revolved around an exchange of goods or services for money but present trend is a new form of commerce dominating most parts of the world-one whose currency is no longer just about money but includes consumers’ personal information and attention. Consequently, in this model, one is less valuable as a buyer but in terms of that one’s information and how much one pays attention to advertisers. This article will examine how online advertising focuses on commoditizing personhood by changing commerce from buying goods/services to extracting data from consumers, how big data brokers have created huge kingdoms dealing with individuals’ details and why this will likely continue shaping the economy globally.
- Transitioning from Goods to Personal Data: A Futures Market for Attention
Initially, the majority of internet transactions mirrored their offline twin. Customers went to sites, chose products and services and made purchases. While some transactions resemble this practice, commerce on the web has shifted its focus from direct buying over time. Rather it has turned into a market driven by these transactions; sale of consumer profiles, personal data and advertisement impressions. In essence, it is not about trading money for products orbit the selling attention plus personal information of consumers to advertisers
Companies are willing to pay huge amounts just so as they can access knowledge about users that can facilitate a highly focused advertisement campaign enables the highest ROI potentials. A situation arises which may resemble a “derivatives market” where the actual worth of a client does not always become apparent during an instance of transaction. The value resides in their data being monitored, collected and then aggregated for several years to come under different advertisement models. Therefore companies follow everything from browsing history purchase record over time using social networking sites thereby creating complete profiles for targeting specific campaigns of clients.
This market works based on a belief that there are financial benefits possible for companies due to individual customer history data having significant profitability implications for future sales revenues beyond just a single buying action alone. However, this latent value has not yet been unlocked given how there is trillions of dollars in circulation within online advertisement system aimed at drawing out such hidden aspects from users. In this respect, it is an unsure investment in consumer attention and behavior, with advertisers and data brokers constantly working at ways of maximizing the extent to which they can extract value for each person involved.
Nonetheless, this commercialization of humanity goes beyond mere advertising impressions; social networking sites, search engines, e-commerce platforms—these are examples of internet capitalism structures that focus on maximizing user time on site as possible. The online platforms become more profitable when they capture users’ attention over a longer period because they generate a considerable amount of big data which can be used by marketers for product promotion. Attention economy thus naturally merges with personal data in such manner that we can hardly differentiate between them these days.
- Data Brokers and Email Marketing: The New Gatekeepers of Consumer Attention
In today’s changing market place, data brokers have emerged as indispensable stakeholders. Verisk, Enformion, and Acxiom happen to be some of the prominent firms collecting, combining then reselling millions upon millions of individual profiles. These include a range of things like age, gender purchase history credit ratings etc., even up to how someone prefers their coffee made or other intimate details such as illnesses they have. A variety of sources is used in gathering together all this information by data brokers, like credit card transactions public records or activity on social networks, which is then packaged into one commodity meant for sale to advertisers, politicians seeking votes from particular populations or companies wishing to target particular segments of This business is huge with insiders trading in billions of human consumer records every year, as well as continuously updating their records.Nevertheless, most individuals remain in the darkness about it, mostly due to ignorance. On the other hand, many people unknowingly approve such acts by accepting the terms and conditions on websites without reading or understanding them.
As regulations surrounding direct marketing have toughened up in many developed states, email marketing now serves as one of the prominent ways of reaching out to consumers. For instance, rules governing phone calls or text message instances have been significantly set by legislations like General Data Protection Regulation within European Union or California Consumer Privacy Act at least within America. Companies can still use emails as an effective means through which they can connect with their clients since courts through Email marketing laws principally known as; GDPR- EU legislation enacted for its citizen safety during transactions on internet by subjecting them into accordance with regular legal orders
Businesses have gained significance over the years by using emails for direct communication purposes. Companies like Mailchimp or Stripo offer solutions on how to build email html, create massive databases of potential clients’ emails based on a variety of criteria such as occupation, location and age among others so that marketing emails are specifically designed for each segment of the market. In this digital age where personal information is valued more than anything else, an email address becomes the most important parameter for any business organization wishing to establish a long-term relationship with its audience. This means that companies having a large base of well segmented email subscribers can engage in personalized campaigns that will stimulate interaction and eventually generate sales using this information.
- The Future of Commodification: Growing Alongside the Global Economy
The Global Economy is growing, and by extending that the commoditization of personality and its supportive data economy is inevitable as well. More new media materials come up in the market each day plus the technological devices that altogether keep advertising going at levels considered exotic and cutting-edge today. Americans may not be accustomed to seeing people wearing computers around their necks or refrigerators that can keep track of food supply through the internet but we are seeing wearable technology, smart house gadgets and Internet of things as the next frontier for collecting data. Here, everything from heart rates and sleep patterns to the amount of energy your home consumes can be monitored and sold out in no time.
At the same time, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning algorithms have advanced significantly leading to better capability on the side of advertisers and data brokers for extracting deeper insights from what they get hold of. The use of these technologies will make targeting very specific, thus making it easier for organizations to create wealth from customers over time. In such circumstances, personal information will become more commodified than ever before since firms look up with fresh methods of commercializing on the facts they have been able to collect about their clientele.
Furthermore, with the emergence of new markets in developing countries and growth of global internet access, many potential consumers would continue to be obtained. This thus presents an immense opportunity to data brokers and advertisers to reach out to billions of more customers just starting their journey within the digital economy space. And if these newcomers produce lots more information than anyone else before them, then they would also add up into an economy based on data where an individual’s personality is increasingly considered as being valuable.
Conclusion
Commodifying individuals using online advertising and collecting various user information has become one of the characteristics denoting contemporary digital economies. Now traders have moved from making transactions to investing in consumer data whose actual cost is both unknown and variable over time. This change has been exploited by big data traders who aggregate and trade millions upon millions of personal profiles, while email marketing companies have emerged as crucial players in reaching out to consumers amidst tightening regulation.
The general economy in the world is growing bigger everyday with the evolvement of new technologies that allows even more sophisticated methods for data collection and targeting; hence increasing the worth of individuality as a commodity. In this new paradigm, consumers are no longer just buyers but also products themselves where their information is what drives forward the digital marketplace.
