Monetization of Networks

Meme

Where networks are Monetized based on traffic, the maximization of traffic is a major objective.

Context

Metcalfe's Law tells use that the value of a network grows as the square of the number nodes. "This law has had a significant impact on the development of network economics, especially in the context of telecommunications, computer networks, and more recently, social networks and the internet."

Problems

Moral Values are a high level set of metrics which can be used to evaluate results, these are seldom used in evaluating the results of network growth.

• The most commonly published problem with algorithms that maximize network traffic was the case of the Rohingya, Muslim inhabitants of the part of Myanmar closest to India and Bangladesh. In early 2010 there was a wave of democracy in Myanmar that opened to country to the Internet and the sudden rise of Facebook which channeled some of the worst fears about the Rohingya, who also wanted more freedom. The result was a bloody Buddhist back-lash against the Rohingya that left tens of thousands dead and many expelled from Myanmar. While it was radical Buddhist themselves that created the messages, it was Facebook algorithms that picked these racist messages and promoted them to increase traffic on the site. Facebook's rationalization was that they were just the network and not the message, but no one bought that self-serving viewpoint. They eventually recognized that they did not do enough to limit the damage after the fact and years of denying responsibility. It wasn't that there were not voices of moderation among the Buddhists, but that Facebook made the automated decision to focus on the posts that generated more traffic. Perhaps the age where moderation is valued is now in the past.