Where Web 2.0 Went Wrong: Henry Jenkins

The article we read for this week is a chapter out of Henry Jenkins’ book, Spreadable Media, published in 2013 and coauthored with Sam Ford and Joshua Green. This book was focused for three audiences: media scholars, communication professionals, and citizens who actively produce and share media content (Click, 2013). The latter allows this book to reach a wide variety of audiences because social media is involved and influences a lot of peoples' lives. 

Henry Jenkins is currently a professor of Communication, Journalism, and Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California. He got his undergrad from Georgia State University as a Political Science and Journalism major. After Georgia, he continued his education at the University of Iowa for his MA in Communication Studies and then received his PhD here at Madison. He describes himself as “prolific as hell” in regards to the number of books he writes. His most notable books are Convergence of Culture, Spreadable Media, and Textual Poachers.

“Where Web 2.0 Went Wrong” is about the development of Web 2.0 and the complex relationship it created between users and producers. The authors evaluate the moral economy between them to argue that Web 2.0 eventually failed due to the fact users and producers have contradicting ideas whether user generated material should be for social motives or economic motives.

The concept of Web 2.0 allows users to be actively involved in the posting, commenting, and distribution of information creating sites strictly off the basis of user-generated content. The authors argue the development of Web 2.0 damages the “moral economy” between companies and contributors. The moral economy is “the social norms and mutual understanding that make it possible for two parties to conduct business” (Jenkins 2013). The moral economy is damaged because companies are more focused on commodity culture while the users are more focused on social motives. Conflict arises from the users due to the commodity culture because users are posting content to share their ideas and give back to the community while the companies are only interested in the economic gains.

I thought the most interesting piece of this article was the discussion of marketing techniques within companies in the Web 2.0. The sole purpose for actual user generated reviews is not to make money off of it but because they are passionate about the topic. Companies were trying to exploit Web 2.0 by creating fake user-generated reviews and even paying people to write good reviews about their products. I think this shows a lot about our society because while we are so interested in sharing ideas for fun, companies are trying every technique in the book to make profit.

This book was reviewed well because of the in depth analysis of digital media and its impact on our society. Spreadable Media raises a lot of interesting questions and is well suited to a common citizen and even an expert in the field. Melissa Click argues that although this book is important for media scholars to look into, Spreadable Media is not an “earth-shattering” read for experts in this field. I personally thought the article was engaging because it is so relatable and brought up a lot of interesting points on how our society works through Web 2.0.

Click, Melissa. (2013). [Review of the book Spreadable Media: Creating Value and Meaning in a Networked Culture, by Henry Jenkins, Sam Ford, and Joshua Green].

Henry Jenkins et al., (2013). “Where Web 2.0 Went Wrong,” Spreadable Media.