The Internet is one giant sales funnel.
It all started as a communication technology for the military in the United States. By 1980, universities were also collaborating by sharing information and knowledge. Today, the Internet is mostly about creating sales funnels and videos of cats.
Navigating the Internet without being bombarded by ads, click-baits, and affiliate links is practically impossible. Promises of easy money and“passive income” have transformed almost all Internet interactions into permanent sales pitches. Looking for something to watch on YouTube? You will be greeted by two ads (if you have a free account) and then sponsored content. Looking for something to read, for instance, on Medium? SEO-centered articles, affiliate links, and click-bait titles. LinkedIn? Sales pitches, links to squeeze pages, and self-promoting content.
It wasn’t always like that.
I remember the good old days on the Internet. When I was at college, going online meant browsing through self-promoted sites written mainly by enthusiasts willing to share their knowledge. I remember creating my first GeoCities site, with a visitors counter and all. It had a couple of pages about music, guitars, and information about Scott Henderson. I have to acknowledge it, there was not a lot of value in my texts, and as such, they never had many visitors.
Still, in those days, the Internet was a precious source of information, with online newspapers and research sites from certain universities. There was no centralized starting point, and we had to rely on page indexers. One day, Google came into place, and it all changed forever.
The end of the content and the dawn of SEO.
Google Ads and “the algorithm” made their appearance, and with them, the dream of earning money by publishing content and collecting views. It seemed like a win-win situation: the more valuable content a writer publishes, the more visitors might click on the ads. This was the start of monetized blogs. Eventually, the content was no longer the most crucial part of the job: cheating “the algorithm” became the objective.
In my opinion, this derived in a downward spiral: now everything goes — enticing titles, suggestive thumbnails, obscure descriptions, etc. Even blatant lies or misleading headlines are valid now. Getting the click is everything, at all costs.
Is it inevitable?
Don’t think that I don’t get it. Creating content (at any level) takes time and talent, two qualities that ought to be rewarded. Fans, followers, and online recognition do not put food on the table. And I know it’s not for the lack of trying, as creators have also tried alternatives: crowdfunding mechanisms like Patreon are their life and blood in many cases. Unfortunately, it would be financially unviable for me to pay all the content creators I follow.
On the other hand, ads and affiliate links overload is killing the whole experience. I am sorry to say that, for me, a blog post loses all credibility when it turns out that it was just the first stage of a sales funnel. Does every single text on the web need to end with “follow me, click on the like button, and subscribe to my mailing list”?
What do you think? Is it a real problem, and if so, can it be fixed? Thanks for reading!
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