Using email? Text messages? Congrats, you're in the 'underbelly of dark social sharing'

'Hailo has signed up our sworn enemies – private hires'

In Blighty, London cabbies are enraged at their one-time mate Hailo, the taxi app that used to be just for black cabs but has now expanded to include private hire companies. A protest by drivers at the firm’s offices in the capital got a little tense and the police had to be called, although the crowd dispersed without incident. Emotions continued to run high that evening, as unknown perpetrators scrawled insults on the office walls, calling the firm “scab” and “Judas”.

The drivers told The Reg that they were disgusted that Hailo had decided to include private hire cars in its services. One said:

They started with the promise of bringing more work to the trade, but now they've gone and signed up our sworn enemies, the private hires.

We thought Hailo was going to help us take on private hire firms like Addison Lee, but they've just gone over to the other side. It's shameful.

While another said:

We're seeing black taxi drivers having a go at other people in the same industry. It's sad.

Hailo has defended itself by saying that it has to keep up with the market:

There is no point burying our heads in the sand - people want a choice and taxis need to be in the mix. A taxi-only app will get isolated and customers will take their money to services without any cabs on offer. It is already happening. Let’s win back that work.

And finally, are you still using email? Do you find something interesting on the web and then tell people about it, using actual words that come out of your actual face? Then you're part of the DARK SOCIAL world that's befuddling marketers and advertisers.

Horrifyingly, dark social could stop people from efficiently selling you stuff, according to an article from Business Review Weekly in Australia:

An emerging trend, called “dark social”, is threatening to upset the social media establishment dominated by Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Google.

Up to 80 per cent of all “sharing” of publisher and brand content is being distributed through email and text messaging to smaller, “off-the-grid” user networks, according to figures from measurement companies such as Chartbeat and online customer prospecting network, RadiumOne.

This underbelly of social sharing presents a challenge to media companies, online publishers and companies, which have invested millions to exploit audiences on Facebook and Twitter.

Dun, dun, daaah. Terrifying stuff. Could it get any worse? Well, yes it could, RadiumOne’s Asia-Pac MD Kerry McCabe explains:

Across the 260,000 large global sites in our network, we see at least 60 per cent – sometimes 80 per cent – of all sharing happening with old-school copy and paste links or articles, which are sent via email to the people who really matter in someone’s network. There’s nothing really intimate or relevant about blasting your whole social network with something that’s relevant to an important but much smaller group of people who really matter.

Perhaps the marketers can get together with insurance companies and make certain that we’re all being watched and evaluated at every moment of every day using the Internet of Stuff? Then we can really ensure the continued existence of this wonderful world of capitalistic ideals and conspicuous consumption. ®