Terms of Service: Social Media and the Price of Constant Connection – How Tech Giants Mine Personal Data and Engineer Conformity - Softcover

Silverman, Jacob

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0062282484 ISBN 13: 9780062282484

Publisher: Harper Perennial, 2016

Synopsis

Social networking has grown into a staple of modern society, but its continued evolution is becoming increasingly detrimental to our lives. Shifts in communication and privacy are affecting us more than we realize or understand. Terms of Service crystalizes this current moment in technology and contemplates its implications: the identity-validating pleasures and perils of online visibility; our newly adopted view of daily life through the lens of what is share-worthy; and the surveillance state operated by social media platforms—Facebook, Google, Twitter, and others—to mine our personal data for advertising revenue, an invasion of our lives that is as pervasive as government spying.

Jacob Silverman calls for social media users to take back ownership of their digital selves from the Silicon Valley corporations who claim to know what's best for them. Integrating politics, sociology, national security, pop culture, and technology, he reveals the surprising conformity at the heart of Internet culture—explaining how social media companies engineer their products to encourage shallow engagement and discourage dissent. Reflecting on the collapsed barriers between our private and public lives, Silverman brings into focus the inner conflict we feel when deciding what to share and what to "like," and explains how we can take the steps we need to free ourselves from its grip.

About this title

About the Author

Jacob Silverman's work has been published in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Slate, the Atlantic, the New Republic, and many other publications. In 2008 the Virginia Quarterly Review recognized him as one of the top literary critics under thirty, and in 2012 he became a three-time Jeopardy! champion. He is on the board of Deep Vellum, a publisher of international literature. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

From the Back Cover

“For readers who need regular reminding about the threat posed by social media’s fake friendliness . . . a mix of history, science fiction, and news you can use.”—Janet Maslin, New York Times

Social networking has grown into a staple of modern society, but its continued evolution is becoming increasingly detrimental to our lives. Shifts in communication and privacy are affecting us more than we realize or understand. Terms of Service crystalizes this current moment in technology and contemplates its implications: the identity-validating pleasures and perils of online visibility; our newly adopted view of daily life through the lens of what is shareworthy; and the surveillance state operated by social media platforms—Facebook, Google, Twitter, and others—to mine our personal data for advertising revenue, which is an invasion of our lives that is as pervasive as government spying.

Integrating politics, sociology, national security, pop culture, and technology, Silverman reveals the surprising conformity at the heart of Internet culture—explaining how social media companies engineer their products to encourage shallow engagement and discourage dissent. Reflecting on the collapsed barriers between our private and public lives, Silverman brings into focus the inner conflict we feel when deciding what to share and what to “like,” and explains how we can take the steps we need to free ourselves from social media’s grip.

“Important and valuable. . . . Well-reported and carefully argued.”—San Francisco Chronicle

Edition details

• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0062282484
• ISBN 13: 9780062282484
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 448