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This article is part of the On Tech newsletter. Here is a collection past columns.

Google and Facebook like to talk about cutting edge stuff they’re working on. metaverse! driverless cars! cloudy! Artificial intelligence!

The truth is, these tech companies are rich and powerful because they’re the world’s largest seller of advertising. They’re essentially doing the same thing William Randolph Hearst did a century ago: They get our attention to try and sell us yoga pants. (Okay, Hearst’s papers probably didn’t have leggings ads.)

There is a strong public debate about the benefits and serious trade-offs of the digital worlds Google and Facebook create. It’s less tempting to think about the digital advertising these tech giants have popularized. But like everything else about these companies, it is complex and important.

Alphabet, the corporate entity that includes Google, made about 80 percent of the company. income from the ads we’ve seen this year while searching the web, watching YouTube videos, browsing Google Maps, and more. Facebook accounted for 98 percent income from ads. (Facebook probably won’t be talking about it today. plans to discuss our company’s vision to live, shop and work in a virtual reality world.)

It’s not breaking news that Google and Facebook are enhanced versions of old-fashioned advertising mediums like newspapers or radio. I emphasize this point for two reasons. First, focusing on their essence helps unravel the mystery of these technological superpowers. Google and Facebook seem less legendary and imposing when you know their empires were built on selling us more socks.

Second, I want us to think more about the warts and all the implications of the Google and Facebook ad powerhouses. Advertising methods that companies help popularize — highly automated; who we are, what we do online, and where are we going; and on a scale unlike anything before – it has changed the world around us in both good and harmful ways, without most of us really realizing it.

Of course, some benefits are easy to see. Google and Facebook offer us (arguably) useful products and services because advertising pays the bills. Ads also make things we use outside of Google and Facebook cheaper. Or possibly more expensive, which I’ll get to in a minute.

If you Google “Miami holidays”, that’s a very clear sign that you might want to book a hotel room. If a hotel can pay an average of $1 per new customer for their website to appear prominently in these Google search results – versus spending $2 per customer if they buy a television ad – those hotel rooms may be cheaper for us.

This example is radically simplified, but you get the point. Even if you say you hate ads or have never used Facebook, the ads on these sites have beneficial ripple effects.

But there are also major disadvantages. Google and Facebook to sell ads data arms race to gather as much information as possible about us and now bank, grocery and weather apps are collecting every detail they can to sell their ads. Digital advertising also has a persistent problem. fraud and promises this actually imposes a tax on everything we buy.

The last thing I will mention is the perpetual motion machine of greatness. Google and Facebook are the world’s largest sellers of ads, largely because they are the largest communities of people in the world. More people turn into more spots to sell ads.

This has created ripple effects for entertainment companies, newspapers and internet properties to try to merge or do whatever they can to grow. I wonder if we would have a healthier economy and internet life if Comcast, TikTok and nearly every other company didn’t try to gather the largest possible audience, partly to compete with Google and Facebook and sell more ads.

Tip of the Week

A new way to save vaccination cards for iPhone users

Brian X ChenThe New York Times’ consumer technology columnist is back with fresh advice on digital record keeping for Covid-19 vaccines.

A few months ago, I shared a tip on how to do it. securely store your digital vaccination card on your phone. As of this week, iPhone users now have a much simpler way to store their vaccination cards by adding their vaccination cards to Apple’s Wallet app, its software that holds credit cards and important documents like itineraries.

Here’s how to set it up:

• Download and install the latest software update for iOS (version 15.1). To do this, open the Settings app, tap General, then Software Update.

Before you go …

• Never delete anything, I guess? He told Facebook employees: protect a wide variety of internal documents and communications Dating back to 2016, my colleagues Ryan Mac and Mike Isaac report. The company said it did this in response to government investigations stemming from inside material distributed by Frances Haugen, a former Facebook product manager.

• Here’s what a reality show teaches us about fame in the internet age: A thoughtful quote from my colleague Amanda Hess article It’s about TikTok’s Hulu series featuring the famous D’Amelio family and the ways social media is being presented as a solution to mental health struggles.

• What happens when people use coin-sized Bluetooth tracking devices like Apple’s AirTag to track their stolen cars or scooters? Learned, including by a Washington Post writer After her 1999 Honda Civic was stolen. (Subscription may be required.)

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Will Swiss chard go with my wedding dress? A The couple took their engagement photos at the Berkeley BowlA grocery store in the Bay Area with rabies fans. (Our friends in the California Today newsletter Wrote about that too.)

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