A growing number of social media companies are offering users the chance to monetise their time through ads on their social network apps.
But what are the implications for the poor, and what should we do about it?
The Economist’s Paul Mason, who has studied the issue, believes it is a serious problem.
“There are a lot of people in the world who have not had access to the internet at all,” he says.
“The amount of time they spend on social media is very high, and the time they are spending on it is very low.”
People are not using the time for something useful, they are using it for something that they can monetise in a different way.
“It is not really about getting rich off your social media, it is about getting wealthy from it.”
The problem is that social media can also be a tool for bad peopleThe Economist says the vast majority of social network users are people who are “good” at their job, or do a lot.
But those who are poor and have no access to a regular job do not get that luxury, according to Mason.
“Most of the people in society who are doing very well, they have access to social media and are doing it in ways that are very good for them,” he told the programme.
“But they have not used it to the extent that they would want to.”
Mason said that the fact that the internet is “for everyone” and that the majority of people are poor was a problem.”[It is] a very simple argument.
There are people in this world who are good at their jobs.
They are employed, they can work.
The problem is, they do not use the time that they are working for that to create value.”
This is a simple example of a product that is designed to help people do something that would be a waste of time and money, because they are not getting it for value.
“He said the issue was not limited to the rich, but that the poor could also suffer from being trapped in a digital echo chamber.”
The way that we are all communicating and interacting is really opaque.””
One of the problems that we have is the lack of transparency.
The way that we are all communicating and interacting is really opaque.”
I think that the way we are communicating, and how we are engaging with each other online, is very difficult to navigate.
“And that’s the real issue.”
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