More recently, the hallmark of the Wild Wild Web became a kind of shoot-first, aim-later approach to corporate strategy. The Wild Wild Web hasn’t been all bad. The same tools that produced personalized recommendations, engagement-optimized feeds and the Internet of Things also produced political polarization, viral misinformation and pervasive surveillance. Just like the California gold rush, the Wild Wild Web started an enormous accumulation of personal and corporate power, transforming our social order overnight. (Facebook, in particular, still appears attached to the narrative that social media simply reflects offline society, rather than driving it.)

Source: New York Times July 02, 2020 19:56 UTC