{"560171":{"#nid":"560171","#data":{"type":"external_news","title":"Facebook is Not a Technology Company","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIan Bogost, professor in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication, wrote\u0026nbsp;\u201cFacebook is Not a Technology Company\u201d for\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003EThe Atlantic\u003C\/em\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EExcerpt:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAt the close of trading this Monday, the top five global companies by market capitalization were all U.S. tech companies: Apple, Alphabet (formerly Google), Microsoft, Amazon, and Facebook.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBloomberg, which\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/gadfly\/articles\/2016-08-02\/tech-giants-form-fab-five-to-dominate-stock-valuation-chart\u0022 data-omni-click=\u0022r\u0026#039;article\u0026#039;,r\u0026#039;link\u0026#039;,r\u0026#039;0\u0026#039;,r\u0026#039;494183\u0026#039;\u0022\u003Ereported\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;on the apparent milestone, insisted that this \u201ctech sweep\u201d is unprecedented, even during the dot-com boom. Back in 2011, for example, Exxon and Shell held two of the top spots, and Apple was the only tech company in the top five. In 2006, Microsoft held the only slot\u2014the others were in energy, banking, and manufacture. But things have changed. \u201cYour new tech overlords,\u201d Bloomberg christened the five.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut what makes a company a technology company, anyway? In their discussion of overlords, Bloomberg\u2019s Shira Ovide and Rani Molla explain that \u201cNon-tech titans like Exxon and GE have slipped a bit\u201d in top valuations. Think about that claim for a minute, and reflect on its absurdity: Exxon uses enormous machinery to extract the remains of living creatures from geological antiquity from deep beneath the earth. Then it uses other enormous machinery to refine and distribute that material globally. For its part, GE makes almost everything\u2014from light bulbs to medical imaging devices to wind turbines to locomotives to jet engines.\u003C\/p\u003E\u0026nbsp;Isn\u2019t it strange to call Facebook, a company that makes websites and mobile apps a \u201ctechnology\u201d company, but to deny that moniker to firms that make diesel trains, oil-drilling platforms, and airplane engines?\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor the full article, read \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/technology\/archive\/2016\/08\/facebook-is-not-a-technology-company\/494183\/\u0022\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"32716","created_gmt":"2016-08-08 12:04:15","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 02:28:19","author":"Hayden Russell","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","publication":"JS Coon Building","field_article_url":"","publication_url":"http:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/technology\/archive\/2016\/08\/facebook-is-not-a-technology-company\/494183\/","dateline":{"date":"2016-08-03T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2016-08-03T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"}],"categories":[{"id":"143","name":"Digital Media and Entertainment"}],"keywords":[{"id":"3663","name":"Ian Bogost"},{"id":"169219","name":"School of Literature Communication and Culture"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}