Available Formats
The Internet Trap: How the Digital Economy Builds Monopolies and Undermines Democracy
By (Author) Matthew Hindman
Princeton University Press
Princeton University Press
18th January 2021
United States
Tertiary Education
Non Fiction
303.4833
Paperback
256
Width 156mm, Height 235mm
Why is there no such thing as a free audience in today's attention economy
The internet was supposed to fragment audiences and make media monopolies impossible. Instead, behemoths like Google and Facebook now dominate the time we spend online and grab all the profits. This provocative and timely book sheds light on the stunning rise of the digital giants and the online struggles of nearly everyone else, and reveals what small players can do to survive in a game that is rigged against them. Challenging some of the most enduring myths of digital life, Matthew Hindman explains why net neutrality alone is no guarantee of an open internet, and demonstrates what it really takes to grow a digital audience in today's competitive online economy.
"Co-winner of the 2019 Goldsmith Book Prize for Academic Books, Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School"
"Winner of the 2018 Frank Luther Mott-Kappa Tau Alpha Journalism and Mass Communication Research Award"
Matthew Hindman is associate professor of media and public affairs at George Washington University and the author of the award-winning book The Myth of Digital Democracy (Princeton).