There is a lot of unpaid work performed by humans on social quantification platforms, even when this work provides value to the network and allows the platform owners to enrich themselves. Consider, for instance, all the ways in which users can contribute free labor in the Local Guides program that is part of Google Maps. This program asks individuals to “Review a place,” “Rate a place,” “Add photos to a place,” “Answer questions about a place,” “Edit a place’s information or Edit a road on the map,” “Add a missing place,” “Check facts about places nearby,” and “Respond to Q&As.” In return, the platform offers recognition; working for them can help “your contributions get noticed” and valued in this “gamified” system. The work can also be remunerated not in cash but in perks that can be used to further integrate workers into the platform (such as “3 months of Google Play Music and 75% off a movie rental on Google Play” or something similar). Many social quantification platforms have similar ways of rewarding users, but in general, the more “social” a platform is, the less expectation there is that users will be recompensed for their work, since the joy of social interaction facilitated by the platform is presented as enough payment. Julian Kücklich refers to this phenomenon in which participation itself generates value as playbor (part play, part labor), suggesting that from the perspective of capitalism, the means of production here are the players themselves.

Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, loc. 215