supergee | On being a commodity

These days I am demographically challenged, so old that I haven't been invited to a focus group in years. It has also been remarked by many that as a Facebook participant, I am part of the product sold to advertisers, rather than part of the audience. This is not something new. Magazines that survive on subscriptions, rather than advertising, are very much the marked state, and many offer cheap subscriptions to those who can be offered to advertisers as part of a desirable demographic. I am one of those, a Professional (editor), and as a result I get The New Yorker and other mags at much less than the ~~sucker~~ newsstand rate. Vanity Fair has just joined the list.