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| f.anPag.es: selling virtual selves |
Dicken (2007, p 436) writes: “technology is a fundamentally enabling force in the globalizing of economic activities.” It has indeed created a marketplace through Facebook where buyers do not have to leave their living rooms and is making obsolete garage sales and second hand stores. The Internet is also helping bypass gatekeepers such as big design firms so that more designers can collaborate on new products (The Economist, 2012, p 2). The same is true for the publishing and music industry.
Heras (2010) has written about another sale taking place on the Internet: the sale of Facebook fans. She reports that Australian-based company, Viralee, sell Facebook fans to the public through their service F.anpag.es. Heras (2012) quotes founder Dominic Holland: “Facebook pages and fans are truly one of the greatest investments any company or marketer can purchase ... Fan pages are a way to easily engage a population of consumers never before reachable at such a low budget …[and] drive consumers to other web properties or to perform actions.” So it appears that even our virtual selves are for sale in the Facebook marketplace, which makes me wonder if we’ve lost more than we realise?
Reference List
Dicken, P. (2007). Winning and losing: An introduction, in Global Shift: Mapping the changing contours of the world economy (pp. 437-453). London, England: Sage
Heras, K. (2010, January 14). World’s first marketplace for Facebook fan pages launchers. [Web log comment]. Retrieved from http://thenextweb.com/au/2010/01/14/worlds-marketplace-facebook-fan-pages-launches/
The Economist. (2012). The third industrial revolution. Retrieved from http://www.economist.com/node/21553017
Kuttainen, V. (2013). BA1002: Our Space: Networks, narratives and the making of place, Lecture 8: Stuff. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://learnjcu.edu.au
Image Credits
Heras, K. (2010). Fanpages. Retrieved from http://thenextweb.com/au/2010/01/14/worlds-marketplace-facebook-fan-pages-launches/
As noted by Wilkinson (2013), post-Fordism attempts to obliterate time through globalisation, destruction of work/non work, and destruction of private/public. I believe that consumerism on Facebook is a great example of this.
ReplyDeleteUsers are able to sell, swap and buy without the hassle of the 'middle man' as you mention. You can buy locally, nationally and even internationally. Facebook is a huge globalized trade market place.
As Australians, most of us will have access to Facebook, making it likely that we will become consumers of some kind. I believe this gives us power, as we have access to a wide range of products across the globe.
"Technology is a fundamental enabling force in the globalizing of economic activities" (Dicken, 2007). Those of us living in 'richer' countries with wide access to means of technology and communication hold the power to trade and consumerism.
Reference:
Dicken, P. (2007). 5th Edition: Global shift; mapping the changing contours of the world economy. p 438. London: Sage publications.
Wilkinson, R. (2013) BA1002 Our space: Networks, narratives and the making of place. Lecture 8: stuff, part 2. Retrieved from http://learnjcu.edu.au