I think way too much about the digital bits being transmitted online each day. I study the APIs that are increasingly being used to share these bits via websites, mobile, and other Internet-connected devices. These bits can be as simple as your messages and images or can be as complex as the inputs and outputs of algorithms used in self-driving cars. I think about bits at the level up from just the 1s and 0s, at the point where they start to become something more meaningful, and tangible--as they are sent and received via the Internet, using web technology.
The average person takes these digital bits for granted, and are not burdened with the technical, business, and political concerns surrounding each of these bits. For many other folks across a variety of sectors, these bits are valuable and they are looking to get access to as many of them as you can. These folks might work at technology startups, hedge funds, maybe in law enforcement or just tech-savvy hacker or activist on the Internet. If you hang out in these circles, data is often the new oil, and you are looking to get your hands on as much of it as you can, and are eager to mine it everywhere you possibly can.
In 2010, I started mapping out this layer of the web that was emerging, where bits were beginning to be sent and received via mobile devices, expanding the opportunity to make money from these increasingly valuable bits on the web. This move to mobile added a new dimension to each bit, making it even more valuable than they were before--it now possessed a latitude and longitude, telling us where it originated. Soon, this approach to sending and receiving digital bits spread to other Internet-connected devices beyond just our mobile phones, like our automobiles, home thermostats, and even wearables--to name just a few of the emerging areas.
The value of these bits will vary from situation to situation, with much of the value lying in the view of whoever is looking to acquire it. The value of a Facebook wall post is worth a different amount to an advertiser looking for a potential audience, then it will be to law enforcement looking for clues in an investigation, and let's not forget the value of this bit to the person who is posting it, or maybe their friends who are viewing it. When it comes to business in 2017, it is clear that our digital bits are valuable, even if much of this value is purely based on perception and very little tangible value in the real world. With many wild claims about the value and benefit of gathering, storing, and selling bits.
Markets are continually working to define the value of bits at a macro level, with many technology companies dominating the list, and APIs are defining the value of bits at the micro level--this is where I pay attention to things, at the individual API transaction level. I enjoy studying the value of individual bits, not because I want to make money off of them, but because I want to understand how those in power positions perceive the value of our bits and are buying and selling our bits at scale. Whether it is compute and storage in the cloud, or the television programs we stream, and pictures and videos we share in our homes, these bits are increasing in value, and I want to understand the process how everything we do is being reduced to a transaction.
