Thanks to Gizmodo I stumbled across an interesting article in Wired How Tech Tools Transformed New York’s Sex Trade
Without dwelling on the morality of the subject matter, what grabbed my attention was how the internet and Social Media are making profound changes to this industry.
Is this Sexy French Maid on Facebook?
The “working girls” have increasingly been able to move off the streets, to be independent of pimps and madams, and to set their own rates (and set them higher). This change has been so great that the pimps are now all out of work.
How have they been able to do this? Well one reason given is their adoption of marketing through the internet and social media. In his survey, Columbia University professor Sudhir Venkatesh found that 83% of the New York prostitutes he met had a Facebook page, and three years ago a quarter of their business came through this. It is a safe bet that that proportion is much much greater now.
So the question is: if Social Media is having such a transformational effect on the oldest profession, what impact could it have on yours?