Social Media and Sex Workers

This week's discussions and topics all seemed to revolve around the changing world of Social Media. In the age of social media, new ways to incorporate technology with sex have come about. Social media and other tech advances has enhanced the movement. Today you can find legal ways to embrace sexual encounters such as Tinder or Grindr or even Craiglist ads for companionship. Then we can also see how sex workers can use these technologies to enhance their  business, legal or not.

In an age where sex sells and sex is everywhere, none of us are surprised that sex invaded the internet. Like in the documentary we watched, Hot Girls Wanted, the internet was absolutely key in their advertising, finding girls, and customers. The sex workers were then required to keep up an online presence that attracts other customers. This is a common marketing tactic for any kind of sex worker or similar. Most workers like cam girls, brothel workers, or porn stars are all supposed to keep a successful online presence. This is to attract more customers and gain followers that in turn will become future customers. Because of this social media access, the online marketplace for sex has grown dramatically. Everyone looks online for sex now, whether that be encounters or just porn. But the girls involved are always involved in social media, by their pseudo names of course, to attract and maintain customers.

This is part of social media etiquette given to girls as a guideline to their social media sites. There are given rules to their social media accounts in order to gain the most attention from followers and customers.
 
Connecting people is what the internet and social media are all about. And customer acquisition is much easier online when you have sites that promote you as an object for them to purchase. Because sex workers are objectified as a purchasable item, selling themselves online is a safer alternative than walking the red light district. The online community is much safer than the real community of sex workers and their clients. But, with the internet being vast and unending, you really have to market yourself in order to gain enough attention to stay in the business successfully. We saw an example of this in Hot Girls Wanted, where the brand new girl is getting edged out of the business after only a couple of months. It seems the competition is rising with more options out their for customers. This competition comes from the customers ability to control the market. Customers decide by viewership who is popular and what sites are popular. So marketing to the customer on a more personal level in order to gain and retain customers isn't such a far stretch.

With most social media sites acting as a second 'Pimp' to these sex workers, the game becomes all about image and marketing. Posting more risqué photos and chatting with followers will help gain the attention that the job requires. But with so many sites out there to enhance their work, what about helping themselves?

There are sites out there such as this one here that work to help any kind of sex worker with support for themselves and not for their business. This site is for any Sex Worker or ally who is looking for tips on safety, legal help, or any other advice. Any and all in the industry can gather and give or receive real advice that helps the person. There is a huge distinction between how the internet and social media sites can help a sex worker. Many sites may help their respective careers and gain clients and followers that makes more money for them. But the real sites that matter are the ones that exists for the sex workers, by the sex workers, for themselves to help each other emotionally or physically. The difference is that social media can work in a range of ways depending on its usage. For sex workers, the importance of a gathering place for safety and intel to be spread around is limitless. While the career boosting ideals from social media help them in a different way. Yet both circumstances include helping the worker's career in a way that is unfathomable in real life.