Comment by devmunchies
5 years ago
> If a service is monetized with ads, then the user is the product
false. The derived data and access to eyeballs is the product. The user is a resource for creating the product.
Some analogies:
- Cows are not the product, milk is the product. Cows are a resource/asset.
- Prostitutes are not the product, sex is the product. The women are resources.
I feel this more accurately dehumanizing than simply stating users are the product.
I don't think the eyeballs are the product.
Eyeballs don't need to be advertised to because they don't spend money
Spending money is the assumption but that is unworkable as a metric for a third party. Far easier to say you did your part with x views than whatever janky curve on attributed sales would result in.