Crabgrass, Diaspora, and Craigslist are exceptions; they are not practical models for the entire Internet. On the Internet, even peer-to-peer sharing practices, the exchange of the “gift"that almost always takesplace on corporate turf, creates capital for those from whom we rent those platforms. In the age of friendship marketing, we rent the product of our own labor, as McKenzie Wark puts it
Those who called for an all-out refusal of the sunless digital cycles of capitalist production and reproduction need to acknowledge the rare privilege of such position and need to understand that the engagement of users is not entirely voluntary. The violence of participation is about data mining on the one hand and the personal and professional price they would pay for their refusal of mainstream social media services on the other. Refusal would be tantamount to social isolation. Furthermore, in Convergence Culture, Henry Jenkins accurately points out that the debate keeps getting framed as if the only true alternative is to opt out of media altogether and live in the woods, eating acorns and lizards (Jenkins, 248–9). Instead, we can produce real counterpublics, support civil disobedience actions, and create networks of solidarity by diversifying/hybridizing our social media practices.
On the social web, we are getting used, we are using each other, and we can act together. Which social practices make it easier for us to be powerful together? Which political stance do we take by aligning ourselves with a particular network or service? Surely, we will want to question all those dear friends who only care about the bottom line instead of really doing something magnificent with these emergingonline platforms. And if youthink aboutit, well, wouldn't you like to stir up some serious havoc in the playground that is the factory?
Notes
References
8
Introduction