“What people? I see only consumers and products.”

It is the people that make a social network great. You’re right. I say this every time these conversations come up. It’s the people that hold the power. Imagine how quickly things would change if everyone stopped using Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Threads, WhatsApp, Telegram, Snapchat, etc. overnight. From billions/millions to users, to zero. Can you imagine how quickly the companies would change/adjust/pivot/react?

Social media company’s don’t understand what makes a Social network great. Disagree. They know. It’s just that they’re trapped in an unethical business model that will never allow them to make it great. This is because the platform’s interests are constantly at war with the user’s interests. This was a critical mistake in the earlier days of the internet.

Google itself identified this in the early days in a paper that they wrote. They originally just wanted to organize the internet. But with an advertising revenue model, the interests of the advertisers was ultimately gonna be more important.

Call it “enshittification”: Here is how platforms die: first, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die.

They don’t care about making a great or even good product. It’s solely about making as much money in as short a time period as possible, regardless of the long term consequences.

While it is true, there are also some factors which make people converge on some platforms. Factors beyond simply presence of other people. Like technical features.