Because we are cheap labor

It's amazing what the switch to an Information Economy does to a society.

There was an article a few months ago that showed why Amazon doesn't make a profit.
here's one.  Yet, Jeff Bezos has enough money to buy the Washington Post.

And Google produces nothing as far as I can tell, yet it is one of the most powerful companies in the world.

And Facebook is worth $50-$100 billion? And they produce, what?

And the companies that produce actual products or manage commodities aren't nearly as rich as the ones who manage information.

Agriculture and manufacturing may keep humans alive, but information gives us purpose.

Each of us must expect that we are here to produce data and information. You might be mad that Google reads your email, but that's their job, and yours, to let them. And what asshole thinks that free email is like paid snail mail? If you could pay 46 cents, the current price of a stamp, to send an email with the guarantee it would not be read, would you pay it?

No, you wouldn't.

In the current economy, we produce data. And we are rewarded with more crap than we can read or view or hear in this lifetime. We consume what we produce and produce what we consume. It's a cycle. But in this information chain, we humans are very near the bottom and companies like Amazon and Google, Facebook are at the top.

I just think it's interesting that snail mail and landline phone calls and UHF/VHF television and AM/FM radio could never be monetized in the way that digital media is now. Companies could only guess at what motivated consumers. But now that we are both the producers and the consumers, companies know everything. Because we just give it away.

Pinterest: the anti-Facebook

If Facebook is Who We Are, then Pinterest is Who We Wish to Be.

If Facebook is the photo of you vomiting at Flannigan's-O'houlihan's Pub last St. Pat's, then Pinterest is the fresh white linen napkin you didn't wipe your chin with.

But, Wait, you say. Facebook can be a fresh white linen napkin, too.

If Facebook is the fresh linen napkin, then it's a fresh linen napkin artfully folded to represent your genitalia. Like Pornogami (yes, that's a real thing).

But what everyone says about Pinterest is that it's how we would like to view our lives. It's photos of all the beautiful things we want, or would want if only we weren't the idiots we seem to be on Facebook.

It used to be that the virtual world was the place where we pretended to be someone else. Remember that "on the internet, nobody knows you're a dog"? Well, then came social media and Facebook, and we just stopped pretending to be something else and just showed the world who we truly are. And it was embarrassing. But now Pinterest is here to put everything back in perfect order and beauty.

So when you're looking to impress someone, show them your Pinterest boards filled with diamond brooches and solid oak étagères and lace duvet covers and gold Jaeger-LeCoultre timepieces. And make damn sure they don't find your Facebook.