Abstract
As privacy continues to be the salient concern between consumers and marketers with developments in new media technologies, organizations seek alternative ways to alleviate such concerns in order to include consumers in production processes. Through a netnographic analysis of a virtual health community organization, we explore how social media are used by consumers and organizations in order to design unconventional systems of interface that empower them to participate in production and distribution processes. Findings identify different levels of surveillance and the resulting emergence of a new agency distribution among marketing entities. We argue that surveillance, rather than privacy, becomes a determinant for organizing market relations, and sustains business systems that allow for such organization.