When I started working at George Mason University, Google, Facebook, and Twitter did not exist. Amazon was around, but I’d yet to purchase anything from them. The big news in the book industry was the sudden rise of Borders and Barnes & Noble superstores; if you’d claimed that Amazon was a viable competing book outlet, most people would have just furrowed their brows at your naivete.
Now the IT giants are household names. They haven’t just transformed their own industries; they’ve transformed life itself. When I crave knowledge, I Google. When I seek consumer products, I Amazon. When I socialize, I Facebook. When I market my ideas, I Twitter. Hundreds of millions of customers around the world can say the same. If you’d described my future back in 1993, I would have laughed at your optimism… and I’m a confirmed optimist!
What would have seemed most absurd to me back in 1993, however, is that all of these companies provide tons of free services. I’ve never paid a dime to Google, Facebook, or Twitter. Even Amazon hands out tons of freebies; when I want to track down a reference, I’d rather go to Amazon than my own bookshelf. Sure, Amazon charges for physical stuff; but when I factor in the value of my time – and the agony of shopping – even the products that come in the mail are practically free. (If this seems hyperbolic, ask yourself: If you could pay Amazon its regular rate to deliver a product to your home, or drive ten miles to pick it up for free, how often would you do the former?)
Given all this, you might expect these giants of the internet age to be popular, admired, even loved. Instead, they’re drowning in resentment. How often does a pundit or politician give a speech thanking them for their astounding work? Virtually never. Instead, we live in a world where pundits bemoan the market leaders‘ alleged failures – and politicians casually threaten to regulate them – or even treat them like public utilities.
You could remind me that, “Actions speak louder than words.” People who contently use Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Amazon far outnumber the complainers. This is a fine observation – if you want expose the pettiness and myopia of the critics. “If company X is so bad, why do they have hundreds of millions of repeat customers?” is not a decisive response to complaints, but it is a mighty response nonetheless.
So who cares what the naysayers say? Sadly, every satisfied customer of these great companies should care, because in politics, words speak louder than actions. Pundits and politicians seek fame and power by saying and doing what sounds good, even when the consequences are awful.
I got a small dose of this awfulness during my recent trip to Europe. Thanks to new privacy regulations, internet users in Europe now constantly have to click their consent over and over and over and over and over. Why? Because of some high-profile privacy scandals that pundits decried and politicians vowed to solve. Almost no one values their online privacy enough to personally shop around for extra. Yet even fewer people want to get up in public and say, “Your scandals are a tempest in a teapot. Most First Worlders wouldn’t pay $1 a day to protect ourselves from these First World problems. I doubt even most of the ‘outraged’ would pony up. Maybe the companies should do a little more to deal with privacy issues. But overall, they’ve done such a great job so far that they fully deserve the benefit of the doubt.”
When I reflect on the last two decades of the internet, I can only conclude that we live in a world of ingratitude. Stellar companies do a bang-up job, and “opinion leaders” – most of whom could barely design a webpage – desperately hunt for dark linings in the silver clouds of progress. Yes, even stellar companies aren’t perfect. But unlike pundits and politicians, they’ve earned our trust – and keep earning it every day. On the whole, I’m not just a satisfied customer. I’m an enthusiastic customer. You should be too.
READER COMMENTS
Charles
Sep 5 2018 at 11:59am
I’m reminded of the surveys showing positive public sentimant for the big tech companies in the 80-90% range. Count me as one of them!
https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/27/16552614/amazon-popularity-user-survey-prime-echo-trust
A
Sep 5 2018 at 12:05pm
You might admire and trust the current leadership bench, while also hedging against future psychopaths and incompetents.
Matt C.
Sep 5 2018 at 1:57pm
I did a small, unscientific survey and found that most people would require far more compensation for the types of data Facebook and Google collect than they would be willing to pay for the service. Several indicated they would not want companies to collect their data no matter the price.
This is what I expected. Google and FB may have a zero price, but they are not free; you give up something of value when you use them. Most people do not seem to be aware that what they are giving up is more valuable than what they are receiving.
BC
Sep 5 2018 at 11:48pm
Unless your friends never use Facebook nor Google, their revealed preference is quite different from what they told you in your survey.
Rich Osness
Sep 8 2018 at 10:14am
Most people place a much greater value on what they are offering than others.
Dave Smith
Sep 5 2018 at 2:34pm
A, the backlash against Google, etc. is not that sophisticated.
Weir
Sep 5 2018 at 7:57pm
If social desirability bias is a problem, social media makes it worse: Mark Zuckerberg was actually a psych major. His customers are advertisers. The rest of us are test subjects.
If the news is trivial, irrelevant, and dumb, social media makes it worse: Zina Bash is not actually an agent of a Jewish Mexican white nationalist conspiracy. But Sarah Jeong actually has been appointed to the New York Times editorial board.
Fierro
Sep 5 2018 at 8:28pm
As Charles mentioned, tech companies are amongst the highest rated by the public (see the net promoter scores: https://customer.guru/net-promoter-score/top-brands; dominated by tech).
Don Boudreaux
Sep 5 2018 at 10:33pm
Bryan: Seldom does a day pass without you giving me good reason to be even prouder than I was the day before to be your colleague. Today is no exception. You rock!
David Henderson
Sep 6 2018 at 12:33pm
Ditto as your co-blogger, Bryan.
Stephen Wahrhaftig
Sep 6 2018 at 7:46am
Great opinion piece.
i am amazed at the number of people who seem to treat these companies as part of government-regulated services, (and in Europe that’s starting to be true). The reasoning appears to be “they are so popular they must be controlled”.
The fact is they are popular because they aloffervterrific free service. Even the recent articles about “1 in 4 Americans have left Facebook” admits that most of them return, despite their temporary grandstanding.
Sebastian Roth
Sep 6 2018 at 9:27am
Taking a personal perspective (micro) I mostly agree. Looking at those tech giants in a societal perspective (macro) I think it is a more complicated matter. Those companies basically own markets; instead of selling you products directly they just want you in (sometimes using psychological warfare against yourself) so that other people can sell you things through their channels. Their free services are complementary goods for their real business making it almost impossible to compete. This might still be a beneficial deal but being thankful for their services and still being cautious about their influence on modern society at large is an option.
Too bad many of the proposed regulations would actually hurt potential competitors more and strengthen the big players market dominance in the long run.
Rui Silva
Sep 7 2018 at 5:44am
Erm… I am an European and GDPR is not such a big deal. Of course, you have to click all the time… so what? And it’s not just me: I don’t see people in the streets rioting against GDPR.
And no I woudn’t pay 1$ a day to get rid of it. I mean that would be more than 300$ a year the equivalent of an iWatch.
Of course, you, an American economist that bends to the free-market side of things, didn’t like GDPR… which comes as no surprise! (you are not immune to bias, not unlike the rest of mankind 🙂 )
Joanne Clarke
Sep 8 2018 at 2:18pm
Three things re GDPR:
1. Once the consent is given then that’s it until you clear your cookie cache so it’s no big deal.
2. GDPR about personal freedom – to control your own data, to not be spied upon and ensure that whatever data has been harvested is accurate.
3. The USA has HIPPA and other data privacy rules so what’s the difference?
Free Thoughts
Sep 8 2018 at 4:09pm
Excellent post Bryan!
Comments are closed.