> Sharecropping is a better metaphor. Yes. This is the metaphor I use for describing building applications within a walled garden (like iOS): You don't have us

> Sharecropping is a better metaphor. Yes. This is the metaphor I use for describing building applications within a walled garden (like iOS): You don't have users, Apple has users, you have a portion of Apple's "real estate" that you can monetize while turning over 30%, and if Apple thinks somebody else can do a better job of monetizing that real estate (including themselves), then (effectively) out you go. This is exactly what the publishers are doing: They are creating content for Facebook's users, not for their own users. They are not building an audience that happens to use Facebook to connect to their content, it's that Facebook has an audience that happens to read the publisher's content. It's Facebook's land, and the publishers till Facebook's fields at Facebook's pleasure. > In 10 years, I wouldn't be surprised if most publishers were dead, replaced by Facebook directly paying creators. This works for YouTube. If you can generate millions of views, you can get a share of the advertising revenue.