What one must consider though is how may this relationship grow with the ever changing internet, and will it eventually result in a relationship that is less beneficial for the user and more exploitative for the social media creator. I ask this question after stumbling upon the article “Save Time and Effort With Facebook Saved Audiences” from Social Times. Not knowing what a ‘saved audience’ was, research into the subject showed that it is a facebook tool for advertisers to use in order to narrow down the exact audience they wish to market too. ‘Save Audiences are “pre-made audience targeting that you can simply insert into your ad sets in the future” (Social Times, 2016). Once you have created this target audience you may narrow such down by choosing the age and gender, interests, behaviours, purchasing habits, income, etc (Social Times, 2016). This pre-made audience setting is now averrable for future use.
I have attached the link to this article below, and urge my classmates to read it. I then ask, what do you think this marketing specific facebook setting tells us about the new relationship between audience and social media?
http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/jackson-salzman-elite-sem-guest-post-facebook-saved-audiences/647826
Quite intriguing, Elissa. The concept of the 'saved audience' is remarkable and reminds us again that the boundaries in which advertisers seek are boundless and inescapable, in regards to them generating information. Creating a saved audience reminded me of the manipulation that can occur when creating a 'sociable' something Gehl discusses in his article regarding Alan Turing. It as fascinating when they wrote in the article you posted, "...so just go through the normal steps of choosing the age and gender, interests, behaviors, purchasing habits, income..." as if we are making posthuman entities in a ever-revolving social media world. We are truly not the only ones who benefit from our 'friendships' online.
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