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Comment by areyoucrazy | Hacker News Reader

This is cargo-culting. Do you really think FB's success is due to frequent lockdowns? They are successful because they've got network effects, people are used to using their site/app and there is no incentive for people to switch - it's already free, you can't go lower than that.

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The network effects that Facebook enjoys today didn't just happen, how they got there is the story.

They got there by people telling everyone around them to join (same with WhatsApp, Snapchat etc.). Company just keepes the sites/apps running, but when it comes to building network effects - that is something people do themselves.

>it's already free, you can't go lower than that.

You could give the users ownership of the multibillion dollar platform whose monetary value only exists because of its users.

I don't follow this train of thought. Did those users make facebook? Run it's servers? write it's code? Sell it's ad space? Every product and service in the world only exists because of consumers, but there's nothing owed between the parties. Facebook provides a platform for it's users. The users use it. They don't own it anymore than you should "owe" your local grocery store because you buy vegetables there

I didn't say Facebook exits bc its users. I said its monetary value exists bc its users. Have you ever bought Facebook ads? The users are what's being sold, not the ad (i.e. FB doesn't make the ad, but asks you what users you want to see the ad).

I'm not saying FB owes me anything, but niether does YouTube who manages a revenue sharing program with its content creators (users). Btw those users didn't create YouTube, run their servers, write the code, etc...

Youtube isn't a social network.

Harvard as a founding user cohort helped a tad.

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