Your eyes are currency

There is no such thing as a free lunch. Your eyes are currency. Consider where you spend them. And where you share content for others to see.


As a user of a service it's easy to forget that there is money involved. It's easy to forget because mostly none of that money flows towards users. 

There are exceptions sure. YouTube's "creators" who've joined the YouTube Partner Program earn a slice or your eye-pie. Facebook and Instagram either have, or are in the process of starting creator programs as well. 

But let's not get sidetracked with the promise of earning anything. Most don't and won't: but their eyes, your eyes are still valuable for advertisers. 

That's the reason public content gets hidden for logged out users. 

To view public content from an Instagram profile, you need to be logged in. To view public content from a Facebook page, you need to be logged in. pic.twitter.com/0tThIPv8pw

— Robert Wallis (@qwallis) July 21, 2020

You need to login so you are known: profiled. So your eyes can be sold.

It's fine to be OK with that. Advertising money funds the services which we have all become accustomed to using for "free". But this trend towards locking content away which users have chosen to share publicly, thinking that it can be seen by anyone with an internet connection; not hidden behind a login page is a trend that's not healthy for an open web. 

Your eyes are currency. Consider where you spend them. And where you share content for others to see.

Follow @qwallis