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The Age of the Individual Advertiser

Everybody is an advertiser on Social Media

The other day, I got $50 to advertise my personal twitter account, @JayDolan. Then I got another $100, because I’m a "small business owner."

Apparently, being human qualifies you as a small business. Nothing is more empowering than feeling like human cattle.

In the world where everyone is a publisher, everyone is an advertiser. We all fight for the same attention and notice whenever we publish a message online.

The ability to pay to promote used to be something for businesses only. But now, we see it for everyone. The social networks rely on advertising to generate revenue. That revenue stream is now looking to users who refuse to pay for service in the first place.

  • Want to get a message in front of your friends? Promote it on Facebook for $5.
  • Need more Twitter followers to feel good about yourself? Buy them.
  • Want to get a job at your dream company? Purchase an ad on LinkedIn.

Ugh.

I’m all for paying for what I use, but this model seems unsustainable. At this rate, will I only see messages that my friends have paid to promote? Or if I want my friends to see my post, will I have to pay Facebook or Twitter?

If social media is a great equalizer, why does it seem like it will fall before the almighty dollar?

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