We feel an urgency to be observed and the need to be heard, nevertheless the digital network that connects us to millions of other people is saturated with an immense density of information. How can we make our voices heard in these circumstances? Perhaps, because we are not heard, we need to communicate more, post more, upload more photos and through these actions we send more information onto the web and the cycle remains ad infinitum. We multiply our presence space in an attempt to be seen, heard and followed in a virtual world that occupies our time. The management of social networks is too laborious, the volume of information is superhuman, the interactions are numerous, yes, but superficial. We could consider, for example, Instagram as the social network of envy. We follow the influencer, we buy what he tells us to buy, we travel to take pictures in the same places as he or she did and then post them with the purpose of easing our envy by creating envy in others. Like, share, repeat. The society of consumption has given way to the society of desire.
The society of information is increasingly showing itself as a space for repetitive and superficial content that has a wide spectrum of themes that is not permissive to thinking due to the speed of updating in our timelines. Sharing is the act of repeating information without any effort that provides us pleasure. It is the purest retransmission that we no longer take the time to rewrite or recreate the material to be seen. We do not even need to copy the information content; the link is ready to go viral. It is worth asking if we think about what we relay because otherwise we are just informing our network of contacts mechanically and without reflection. Thought takes time, demands depth, demands slowness. Computers and mobile devices brought new solutions to problems that did not exist before. That is the price of living in the age of hyperconnectivity and the need for quick responses. The contemporaneity of the digital age surrounds us with a hyperculture for everything: images, information, sounds, people and narratives. Hyperculture also creates generational chasms due to rapid evolution and technological updating.
We break up our profiles according to the social network we are present. LinkedIn, Facebook, Tinder, Instagram are virtual universes that do not collide. The digital label requires different personalities, different content and different attitudes for each of these networks. In the virtual environment our image, our likes, our timeline translate into personal branding. We create our own personal brands. We have the possibility to be what we want, because in the virtual world the construction of the persona does not require depth and complexity. We communicate non-linearly and simultaneously with several people on different platforms. The tabs multiply on our computers through a multitude of links which we do not have time to explore. We are usually on the first page of the results that search engines return to us as these sites know our preferences. Along our virtual route we acquire cookies and generate information for dotcom companies that spread our information and direct our preferences with customized ads. We are presented with the things that previously indicated some interest. There are several “internets”, each customized for each user-consumer.
We produce content daily for multiple platforms that depend on our dedication, our creativity, our time and we depend on them to get “free” access to the content that we produce ourselves. The profits resulting from this work are forward to companies that do not produce any content, but this action allows us to access these platforms to enable us to work on the production of material to be seen and shared. It is a productive chain with some similarities to the slave regime. The system does not exist without us. And, in a way, we only exist if we are “searchable and findable” on the web. Gradually we became familiar with a “call to action” messages, in which we are ordered to click, buy, rate, like, share, try, all now, all for now. On the other hand, there is the possibility of self-promotion on digital platforms: some make it a profession, others are glad to satisfy their ego, and many are just expressing themselves without major ambitions. Influenced people and influencers share the same digital space.
Influencers make recommendations and, in the digital age, this has enormous potential as user-consumers are, after all, people and people interact with people. We trust our friends or those who have the same tastes and opinions as us. Brands, by themselves, are cold, impersonal and abstract. The advertising narratives that the brands develop are less and less efficient to create, by themselves, proximity to the public. The companies found in digital influencers the possibility of transforming brands into human figures and taking advantage of the permeability of these influencers’ opinions who are followed by thousands or millions of consumers. Traditional unilateral communication advertising no longer survives alone in the age of social networks and telematic hypercommunication. Currently, brands are the result of co-creation between owners and user-consumers. The connection between these two agents is essential for the over-experiencing of the brand. Without influence, without likes, without shares, the brand has limited traffic within the online universe. The self-branding generation is the new showcase for companies. It is through these user-consumers that brands make themselves visible to a loyal audience. And this is important to differentiate ― through the volume advertising approach, you reach all corners, but visibility is not guaranteed due to information saturation.
On the other hand, through influencers, the brand reaches a more restricted audience, however, more engaged in the content that appears on the timeline. It is a way that brands have to overcome the excess of choices that currently exist. User-consumers have already made their choice beforehand ― what influencers to follow. We do not need to choose brands or products if those we trust and admire do this work for us. Obviously, there is a respectful relationship between brands and influencers, as both depend on each other. Having digital influence is justified if this status can be exploited and monetized, otherwise it would be just a stroke of the ego itself. Influence is power and brands that have the ability to influence these digital players will get even a bigger power to be present on people’s devices around the world.
We are addicted but happy to belong to a group, or groups, we are happy for identifying with a brand, for living a narrative built to value our obedience. We are avatars in the era of access to digital services. The technology for self-realization and self-expression is addictive and flatters users' ego. Apparently, the popular saying “Tell me who you are with and I will tell you who you are” could be updated to “Show me your likes and I will tell you who you are.”
Chapter 1 - Brand Worlds
The “digital delta” we address in this book is comprised of three elements. Firstly, there is the “brand world” surrounding us with its messages and proposals and iconography; secondly, there is the media, “digital media” mostly, which interconnect “new people” with contents, products, ideas, news and trends, thus producing new kinds of people profiles; and, finally, the third element is “change”. When all the three elements interact with each other, there is a transformation at a society level.
However, in first place let us discuss the concept of “brand world”. One thing that is typical in our western societies is the way public spaces are often polluted by visuals from media, displaying products, lifestyles and news (Lipovetsky & Serroy, 2013, 10). Ultimately, what the media are really doing is to promote the brand world. Everything is about brands. However, if we dive deeper in the core of the messages we will find concepts, which are not that hard to grasp. Erin Manning & Brian Massumi say that “concepts must be experienced. They are lived” (apud Shaviro, 2009, VII). As in fact that is exactly what people follow. They follow concepts disguised in semiotic packages that require we live through those very concepts. That brings change. That means that the brand world is proposing adventures, experiences, something more than just products and services. The reader can ask how the connection happens. Well, according to Dave Burwick, what is taking place is a process of brands and media “interfacing with the consumer” (apud Meyers & Gerstman, 2001, 117), meaning that the consumer is being treated as a user, for he or she no longer owns anything. This is the age of the access. We log in. We do not own. We do not download, we stream.
The goal of the brand world is something more specific. “The
