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Chloe McConnell
DIGICOMM 3205F
Prof. Ted Cruz
October 12, 2016
“The Mom is on Facebook”
A Case Study Analyzing Immaterial Labour and the Generation of Affect
Introduction
The social networking sites and user-generated content that is taking over Web
2.0 extends traditional roles of parenting. The tech-savvy, Facebook-loving, millennial
generation is having children, and “technology enables parents to share the joys,
challenges and questions inherent in raising a child with their family and friends both
near and far on a regular basis” (Heine np). There is an estimated 85.4 million mothers in
the United States alone, and they are controlling 85% of the household income (Laura,
forbes.com). Many mothers spend time on their smartphones ‘googling’ product reviews,
clipping coupons, and making online purchases. In addition to their traditional roles of
child-rearing and housekeeping, mothers are participating in unpaid immaterial labour by
generating Facebook posts, completing search results, and participating in online
parenting communities. This case study will examine how millennial mothers perform
immaterial labour online to produce affect amongst their followers in order to generate
social capital for themselves; this social capital is then exploited by advertisers, and
contributes to increased data mining sophistication. The study will conclude with
implications of mothers’ participation online, and the ways in which this social trend
feeds the mouths of advertisers.
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Production of Affect
Maurizio Lazzarato defines immaterial labour as “the labour that produces the
informational and cultural content of the commodity” (132). To apply Lazzarato’s theory
to our modern day Facebook, the production of immaterial labour occurs when users
post, comment, and engage with content on social networking platforms; it is the users’
participation that makes up the content of Web 2.0. While participating in this
contemporary form of immaterial labour, Fuchs argues that the labour occurring on Web
2.0 produces “affect, fantasy, and social relations” (300), or in other words, the
“emotional and communicative aspects of human relations” (300).
Millennial mother’s on Facebook produce affect by posting photos of their
children, constructing statuses that focus on the emotional aspects of motherhood (such
as purchasing a healthy or educational product), and communicating in a network of
mothers to share advice and parenting tips. In the hopes of generating a following of
‘friends’ who admire her child and her ability to present herself as a ‘good mother’,
millennial moms use Facebook 1.3 times more than their non-parent friends (Heine np).
Heine’s findings signify that mothers are participating in additional work online in order
to fulfill their identity and duty as a mother in 2016. Mothers hope their posts will ignite
emotion, compassion, connectedness, and admiration for their ability to perform motherly
duties on and offline with ease. Mothers feel pressure to post information regarding their
child online, in fear that if they do not, their peers and family may not consider her to be
fulfilling her duties as a mother. It must be a public affair, and as a result, mothers
willingly dedicate hours a day to producing affective emotion regarding her child, and her
motherly role online.
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Importance of Social Capital
Now that I have outlined the ways in which millennial moms produce affect
online through personalized posts on Facebook, I will highlight what motivates these
mothers to participate in a form of digital labour that they are not financially
compensated for. What drives these millennial moms to share such private, and intimate
information about their lives online? Maghrabi, Oakley, and Nemati describe the
monetary value of social networking, social capital. Social capital is described as
“resources that are acquired through relationships, with varying degrees of strength, on
social networking sites” (368). To draw on social capital in regards to millennial moms,
one can infer that mothers are utilizing the social network to gain social capital. Forms of
social capital that are desirable to mothers include: parenting tips, recipes, coupon codes,
breastfeeding advice, and health concerns. Having a reliable network to consult when
dealing with a ‘motherly crisis’ is a valuable resource to have as a millennial mother in
the digital age.
The hope of acquiring social capital motivates mothers to continuously participate
in online social networking platforms; they feel more reassured about their ability to
perform as a mother if their activities and opinions coincide with other mothers in their
online network. Together, they generate social capital that reaffirms their identity as a
mother, and creates a sense of connection to other mothers that may be experiencing a
similar issue. Facebook moms are not being paid with money, but are paid in social
capital that helps them construct and affirm their identity as a mother. Mothers will
dedicate hours a day to building their community of moms through posts, photos, and
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product shares, in turn participating in a digital labour that produces valuable social
capital.
Exploiting Social Capital
Mothers participating in immaterial labour online to generate affect for their
followers—which contributes to an increased acquisition of social capital—has
dangerous implications. The plethora of data available to advertisers online as a result of
a mother’s openness to online sharing only allows corporations to create more effective
advertising tactics. Mother’s share product information, reviews, brand preferences, and
other useful information—while generating affect—that in turn result in a collection of
data that allows marketers to collect intimate details of millennial mothers’ lives.
Klosowski explains how Facebook uses content that users converse about online to help
tailor the advertisements that pop-up on user’s news feeds (np). In other words, mothers
discussing similar topics and products only provide Facebook with more data, which can
be sold to third party advertisers to effectively—and specifically—market their products
to mothers.
With the intention of generating social capital for themselves, mothers are
participating in labour online through Facebook posts that is converted into actual capital
for corporations. Information is collected and sold, and mothers do not receive any of the
profits from the content they spent hours producing. Instead, mothers are satisfied with
the social capital and affirmation they receive in return, from posting cute or comical
photos of their offspring. Is it ethical to be taking advantage of millennial mothers, and
their desire to acquire social capital online? Should these mothers be compensated for
their hours spent online in social media platforms?
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Conclusion
In summation, with the arrival of the millennial mother, immaterial labour spreads
from the confines of the home in the form of housework and chores, to the public sphere
of the online social network. Mothers willingly post photos, product reviews, and other
information that generates an emotional response from their peers and followers, in the
hopes of acquiring social capital to extend their network of mothers. The types of
resources gained through social capital include parenting advice, product information,
coupon codes, and emotional support when dealing with a parenting crisis. Millennial
moms consult the network, and dedicate time to making it stronger and more useful to
struggling mothers participating on Facebook. The collection of data and discussion
surrounding motherhood transforms Facebook into a hunting ground for advertisers,
looking for personalized information that will allow them to develop more effective
advertising tactics.
Millennial moms should reconsider the amount of time spent producing cultural
content online. Not only are corporations converting mothers’ immaterial labour into
capital, but the intimate details of family life are exploited in favour of a capitalist system
attempting to sell consumer goods. Mothers take pride in their child, and as a result,
posting photos of their little one or about the baby formula they use may not seem like
work at all; but, someone is benefiting from the production of immaterial labour online,
and it is not the users completing the labour that are benefiting.
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Works Cited
Fuchs, Christian. “Surveillance & Society: Web 2.0, Prosumption, and Surveillance.”
Creative Commons: Surveillance Studies Network, 2011. Accessed 10 October
2016. Web.
Heine, Christopher. “You Already Knew Parents Post on Facebook More than Others.
Now Find Out How Much.” AdWeek, 11 Jan. 2016. Accessed 10 October 2016.
Web.
Klosowski, Thorin. “How Facebook Uses Your Data to Target Ads, Even Offline.”
Lifehacker, 4 Nov. 2013. Accessed 10 October 2016. Web.
Laura, Robert. “ecoMOMics: The Financial Power and Value of Moms.” Forbes, 10 May
2013. Accessed 10 October 2016. Web.
Lazzarato, Maurizio. “Immaterial Labour.” Radical Thought in Italy: A Potential Politics.
Accessed 10 October 2016. Web.
Maghrabi, Rozan O., Richelle L. Oakley, and Hamid R. Nemati. "The impact of self-
selected identity on productive or perverse social capital in social network sites."
Computers in Human Behavior 33 (2014): 367-371. Accessed 10 October 2016.
Web.
