Think of it like architecture: you create a design that works, people copy it, it becomes standard, then boring, then people make baroque experiments, and then

Think of it like architecture: you create a design that works, people copy it, it becomes standard, then boring, then people make baroque experiments, and then finally it goes retro. Rinse and repeat until a new technology replaces the old (steel over brick/concrete). Web (and mobile) design is now stuck on the hamster wheel. Until we have nanomachines swimming through our veins, all we can do is reinvent what we have to make it fit the fashion of the day. I'd argue the same goes for tech startups' business models, not just their websites. Snapchat didn't introduce any new technology, it just changed how we use what we have. That's why you see so many Uber/Airbnb clones: tech has hit a ceiling, for the time being. I think in the next 5 years there will be a contraction in Silicon Valley, and a cynical cultural backlash as people see more and more that all this new tech isn't making life all that much better than years previous, but instead it just serves to make a few people very rich and the rest more rushed than ever.