Exchange in the Virtual World: Are we the users or the used?

Exchange in the Virtual World: Are we the users or the used?

(JayJaeeee, 2019)

Exchange can be explained most simply as the act of giving and receiving and tends to occur between two people, large groups of people or societies (Week 8 Lecture slides). According to Kuttainen (2019), are three types of exchange: Reciprocal exchange, redistributive exchange and market exchange. The most “dominant” type of exchange within “capitalist societies” is “market exchange mediated by money” (Lechte, 2003). Now that exchange has been defined, you may be wondering; Why is this important? How does this relate to social media? Well, if you were to think about market exchange in terms of a company in business, there would be a plethora of exchanges occurring from the company, the most highly valued being exchanges associated with advertising. Within this type of exchange, there is first a monetary exchange between the company and a popular host site in which consumers regularly frequent, such as Instagram, which then initiates a second, desired exchange between the consumer and the company where the company attempts to persuade the consumer to buy their product. In this case of classic advertising, the company exchanges money to Instagram for a place reachable by consumers. But what happens when the lines between these exchanges become blurred as a result of crafty business tactics? Starbucks is a prime example of this. Recently, there has been much controversy with instances where customers buy coffee from Starbucks, get their name spelled incorrectly and post it on social media.  By doing so, we are essentially providing Starbucks with free advertising exchanges. And so, this brings forth the puzzling question; Are we the users or the used?

References:

J, Lechte. (2003). Exchange. Key contemporary concepts. London, UK: Sage UK. Retrieved from https://search-credoreference-com.elibrary.jcu.edu.au/content/entry/sageukcc/exchange/0

Kuttainen, V. (2019). BA1002: Our space: networks, narratives and the making of place, lecture 8 notes [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from: https://learn.jcu.edu.au/ultra/courses/_97532_1/outline

JayJaeeee. (2019, March 7). Starbucks marketing conspiracy theory. [Image]. Retrieved from https://ifunny.co/picture/ig-conspiracytheories-starbucks-marketing-conspiracy-is-genius-workers-are-purposely-4IGSxRHX6