I think the reason why they focus on social media is because it is so much more effective at capturing our attention. This is because social media giants know t

I think the reason why they focus on social media is because it is so much more effective at capturing our attention. This is because social media giants know to a high degree of accuracy the profile of their users. Besides basic demographics, stats such as the amount of time spent looking at a entertainment video can give away more information about the user’s interest than they know themselves. Regarding television being king, According to statistica, the number of social media users in the US is 294 million (https://www.statista.com/statistics/201182/forecast-of-smartphone-users-in-the-us/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/201182/forecast-of-smart...). Whereas the number of television users is about 305 million (https://www.statista.com/statistics/243789/number-of-tv-households-in-the-us/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/243789/number-of-tv-hous...). Even though these numbers are comparable now, the increased effectiveness of social media and its popularity among younger populations makes it a more effective means of mining our attention than television in general.