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o doubt we are living a social paradigm shift due to the impact of digitalization, which is producing a transformation of our productive model, determining the modes and patterns of behavior of society. The successful Mobile World Congress held in Barcelona leaves us with the feeling that digitalization governs the economic world and emotions. This year's event proposes us to make the leap towards 5G, improved network security, the consolidation of the Internet of Things, the increasingly relevant role of drones, the development of technologies that combine the physical and the virtual, and the use of applied artificial intelligence. This proposal allows us to observe the ways in which innovation is shaping our future.
In this context of technological and digital affirmation, it is interesting to observe the development of technologies with a critical eye to ensure that their revolution is as balanced and positive as possible, a critical eye that forces us to question some of its myths so as not to be blinded by its power of fascination. The essay 21 digital myths. Antidote against internet post-truth by journalist Per Strömbäck, a recognized expert in the digital sector, is an argument against the prevailing technocentrism and warns about the risks of a society that idolizes and venerates, as if it were a religion, the power of the digital. Per Strömbäck poses to the reader, in less than a hundred pages, how to defend oneself from digital myths. Among his warnings, he highlights the identification of the myths that society has acquired, such as the widespread idea that technology is unstoppable and that nothing can be done to prevent its advance, or the fallacy that open technology necessarily implies strengthening an open society. It is also a mistake to deduce that data freedom implies freedom of expression in itself, when in reality surveillance methods are increasing, which consequently weaken individual privacy. Another error is the increasingly widespread consideration that disruption is the new form of competition, when it is a new monopoly, or the widespread myth that innovating without asking permission made the Internet great.
Of all 21 myths, it is good to note some that are especially important for the business sector, such as, for example, "Europe has not known how to create successful digital companies." This myth is debunked by Skype, Spotify, the company King (creators of Candy Crush), the video game company Ubisoft, Vivendi, or the social video game companies Wooga and Big Point.Of all 21 myths, it is good to note some that are especially important for the business sector, such as, for example, "Europe has not known how to create successful digital companies." This myth is debunked by Skype, Spotify, the company King (creators ofCandy Crush), the video game company Ubisoft, Vivendi, or the social video game companies Wooga and Big Point. Per Strömbäck observes: "The European digital opportunity lies in the creative economy, not in copying the surveillance economy of the top ten Internet companies," among which are Google or Facebook. Another myth to eradicate is the one related to the mantra "Internet will save the media." The business conception of paper publications based on the idea that the more readers they have, the more advertising revenue they will obtain is not valid for the digital format; companies did not realize that the freeness of the Internet would prevent them from meeting their expectations. Market fragmentation was not taken into account. It was not taken into account that the purchase of traffic or CPM (cost per thousand) was prioritized. The effect was the collapse of revenue from the purchase of traditional print media and the consequent decline in advertising revenue. Two aspects to which must be added the appearance of native media that exploited the potential of the network better than traditional ones, such asHuffington Post, and Google and Facebook's ability to dictate the rules of the game, gain traffic, and, with it, unique users. The perfect storm arrived with thesmartphonesand the mobile web, allowing readers to access content from anywhere. This fact blurred the traditional role of the reader, who could now read at any time and anywhere, banishing the ritual of buying the newspaper first thing in the morning.
The solution Per Strömbäck envisions is for tech giants to agree or be forced to share their advertising revenue, with audience results being transparent and applying journalistic ethics to their online publishing channels. However, of all the myths described in this essay, the one that has done the most damage to the creation, production, distribution, and exhibition of content is the one that has had the most impact: "intellectual property hinders the digital revolution." Progress, coupled with piracy, theft, appropriation, or copying of others' achievements, has led to an undervaluation of the role of content, turning it into something that must be plundered by the viewer. The mistaken idea, supported by the myth that creators cannot profit from intellectual property without intermediaries to manage it, expresses the extent to which digitalization has forged a model that tends to destroy the old world in favor of a new one, where everything is worth less than the work of creators. An image that has turned large entertainment companies into conservative and reactionary to changes, and emerging web companies into spirited privateers legitimized to snatch others' achievements. Per Strömbäck's essay should be read as a guide for a change of course that manages to give better direction to the uses that are occurring in the digital realm, with the aim that its revolution does not overflow the rights achieved.
Reference: Per Strömbäck's book has been published by Ediciones Quinto 20.
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