> This relates to advertising as well. What the discussion has missed so > far (so far as I can tell) is the new model that Google represents. By > selling key words to advertiser, the advertise is more likely to get to > an interested potential customer and the customer/search is more like to > be interested in the product/service. The scary thing is the consequence > of public goods becoming funded by advertising. As it is in the current > model, the audience is generally not the customer but "is the product" > that is delivered to the real client - the advertiser.
That's not really a new model. It has already been implemented in the old print media, where the articles are merely to fill the gaps between the ads. The content of articles is practically worthless, it's merely diversion from the important issues. Subscription fees may even be reduced to an alibi function -- the main revenues coming from the ads, and low subscription fees meaning more subscribers meaning higher ad prices. With Google, the user can ignore the ads and focus on the contents (of his search results) which are provided by third parties. But with the print media, the content itself becomes worthless by the ad sell-out. Chris ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword "igve". _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
