Enshittification: When the service you use is not what it used to be.
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Recently, I often see the word "enshittificate" in foreign media. It's a word I've never seen before, and when I looked it up, I found out that it's a compound word of en- ("cause") + shitification ("absurdity"), and it was created in 2022 by Canadian writer and journalist Cory Doctorow. I think you can pronounce it as "엔시티피케이트" or "엔시티피컬션." If translated into Korean, it seems to mean falling into Samcheonpo or going to the mountains.
Ensitisation, as defined by Cory Doctorow, refers to the phenomenon in which online platforms increase their profits by increasing advertising and sponsored content while gradually reducing the quality of their services .
In fact, the larger the platform, the more traffic there is, which becomes a good advertising channel. In fact, if you look at articles or columns coming out overseas, they point out Unity's recent unreasonable fee changes, Uber's criticism of raising ride fares and commissions despite having a majority of market share, Reddit's case of charging fees for APIs, etc., and Facebook's unreasonable advertising slots.
I think you get the feeling, but it seems to be a general expression for the form in which the platform's actions to make money cause inconvenience and are criticized from the user's perspective. Personally, I feel like I've stopped using Facebook because of the strange advertisements of 5 billionaires on Facebook recently.
Returning to encitification, it raises questions about whether tech companies can continue to exercise power in this way, and is an expression of concern about “narrative capitalism” — that is, the process by which platforms, once they have established their foundations, become full-fledged businesses. In fact, this is also related to the recent monopoly story in Europe and the United States. It is closer to the concept of Weberian capitalism than the capitalism that Marx talked about. It is usually explained based on the triangle of transformation (change).
Social transformation
Social transformation occurs as technology platforms grow and proliferate. While this may initially promote positive social change, Doctorow’s theory suggests that these platforms can lead to social discontent and division as they undergo a process of ‘enshittification’ that degrades the user experience. For example, we see the growing discontent among users as Facebook fills their feeds with unwanted content.
Economic transformation
Economic transformation occurs as companies seek to expand their market dominance and maximize their profits. 'Enshittification' involves the process of degrading the experience of consumers and stakeholders while pursuing economic gains. This is the case when Amazon increased the burden on both sellers and buyers by charging various fees.
Technology transformation
Technological transformation involves the development of new technologies and energy systems. In this area, 'enshittification' occurs when technological advancements are used for the benefit of corporations rather than the benefit of users. For example, Google has reduced the quality of search results for its advertising customers.
This is a somewhat complicated issue. This is especially true for new services, especially those that are traffic-driven. There was a thread about this issue on Reddit recently, and the solutions discussed there were products that depend on features rather than traffic, and even more importantly, products that provide convenience if users pay for them (such as YouTube Premium, which provides ad blocking), or products with a clear initial BM.
In Korea, for example, I can think of Baedal Minjok, Kakao Talk, and Kakao T, and good examples include Coupang and Naver Membership. It may be because I like businesses that lock in customers to a specific service with a low-cost subscription membership, allowing them to spend more.
Let us know if there are any platforms, services, or communities that you think are 'not like they used to be'. Or conversely, ones that are still doing well.
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