We talk a lot about the "Pay-to-Play" reality of social media, but seeing is believing. Let's do a quick field experiment to see how much of your daily attention is actually sold to advertisers.
The Task:
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Open your favorite social media app on your phone right now (Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, or X).
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Set a timer for exactly 5 minutes.
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Start scrolling through your main feed at your normal pace. Keep a tally of two things:
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Total Posts: How many posts did you scroll past in total?
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Ad Posts: How many of those posts were clearly labeled as "Sponsored" or "Ad"?
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Do the Math: Calculate the percentage of ads in your feed. (Example: If you saw 50 posts in total, and 10 were ads, your ratio is 10/50 = 20%).
Post Your Results: Share your results using this simple format:
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Platform used: [e.g., Instagram]
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Total posts seen: [Number]
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Ads seen: [Number]
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Percentage of Ads: [%]
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My reaction: [Were you surprised by how many or how few ads there were? Did any NGO or charity ads pop up?]
Read the results from your classmates. You might be surprised to see how different platforms serve different amounts of advertising!
