Conventional wisdom has it there is no free lunch in the world. It is true to some extent. But the digital economy is filled with freebies, which allowed the author David Alder Wass to claim that our current vocabulary of the market economy has become dated.
In a digital economy, gifts and freebies are aplenty; all given with the hope of snarling the data of customers and ideally, their loyalty. Facebook, SnapChat, Google Plus and a host of other services are free.
But as big data begins to mount, the Internet of Things (IoT) will also begin to take shape, allowing the economy to discern individual behaviors, patterns, location specific choices, right down to the consumer’s very fetishes across a wide spectrum of goods and services.
In this sense, profit and gifts are entwined. The first economy to achieve total breakthrough on all fronts will achieve an emulation effect and global preponderance. The power of the digital economy rests in its global appeal; more importantly in its generational imprint. Once a major cohort of consumers have become adept at using a certain platform, preferences and biases will be passed down from one generation to the other, creating consumer silos that are burrowed deep and beyond penetration.
By latching on to the convenience of the freebies, be they GPS, Google Map, Waze, or Uber the relationship between consumers and capitalists have become cemented, not merely vertically, but horizontally. In a vertical relationship, the consumers are indeed king. They can decide whether an app or social media are deserving of further use and circulation.
In a horizontal relationship, the capitalist producers of the apps and freebies are constantly forming strategic alliances among themselves to lock in, and lock down the loyalty of the consumers. Thus, in Amazon.com one sees a whole range of products and services being offered, not just books, electrical appliances but also well-sourced and targeted advertisements.