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I feel like the OP highlights a problem common to the new breed of "marketplace" platforms like Uber, Airbnb, and Udemy. All of these substitute open, public, r

by soyiuz 11y ago

I feel like the OP highlights a problem common to the new breed of "marketplace" platforms like Uber, Airbnb, and Udemy. All of these substitute open, public, regulated markets (taxis, hotels, universities) with closed, private, unregulated markets. Once a near-monopoly is reached, the rules of the marketplace can be changed to benefit the marketplace owner (instead of the service provider).

deleted 11y ago
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brbsix 11y ago
^This. I cringe every time I hear someone say X is democratizing Y or that X is the "sharing economy". These are unregulated (near) monopoly markets. Craigslist was democratizing. "Freebie" mailing lists and swap meets are the "sharing economy". Services like AirBnB are doing everything they possibly can to disconnect people (and keep them disconnected). You aren't even permitted to screen your own clients, they are so concerned you'll cut them out prior to billing. At least when posting a flyer in your community or listing on CL, there is no false pretext about screening or due diligence being performed.
- alex_hirner 11y ago
  So if platforms like udemy, app store, uber, etc. eventually gained monopolistic position (which makes business sense) and then adversely taking advantage from it in the long run, what is an alternative model? Transferring them to a blockain'esque infrastructure of public good? I'm seriously interested in a techno-organizational evolution of the platform model.
  - brbsix 11y ago
    I don't know. I've put a lot of thought into it, but this is a Herculean task (like David versus Goliath). Hopefully there are better minds out there who can come up with something. Blockchains and distributed platforms like Etherium look really promising. So does OpenBazaar [1]. There was also an article on the topic recently posted to HN [2]. It has a great quote, "Uber’s big bet is global monopoly or bust.". [1]: https://openbazaar.org/ https://openbazaar.org/ [2]: https://medium.com/dark-mountain/how-platform-coops-can-beat-death-stars-like-uber-to-create-a-real-sharing-economy-5a9752258d3c#.j56jlgwah https://medium.com/dark-mountain/how-platform-coops-can-beat...
aianus 11y ago
The barriers to entry (absent new Uber or AirBnB -specific regulations) are too low for either to ever gain "near-monopoly".

by soyiuz 11y ago

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

brbsix 11y ago

^This. I cringe every time I hear someone say X is democratizing Y or that X is the "sharing economy". These are unregulated (near) monopoly markets. Craigslist was democratizing. "Freebie" mailing lists and swap meets are the "sharing economy". Services like AirBnB are doing everything they possibly can to disconnect people (and keep them disconnected). You aren't even permitted to screen your own clients, they are so concerned you'll cut them out prior to billing. At least when posting a flyer in your community or listing on CL, there is no false pretext about screening or due diligence being performed.

alex_hirner 11y ago
So if platforms like udemy, app store, uber, etc. eventually gained monopolistic position (which makes business sense) and then adversely taking advantage from it in the long run, what is an alternative model? Transferring them to a blockain'esque infrastructure of public good? I'm seriously interested in a techno-organizational evolution of the platform model.
- brbsix 11y ago
  I don't know. I've put a lot of thought into it, but this is a Herculean task (like David versus Goliath). Hopefully there are better minds out there who can come up with something. Blockchains and distributed platforms like Etherium look really promising. So does OpenBazaar [1]. There was also an article on the topic recently posted to HN [2]. It has a great quote, "Uber’s big bet is global monopoly or bust.". [1]: https://openbazaar.org/ https://openbazaar.org/ [2]: https://medium.com/dark-mountain/how-platform-coops-can-beat-death-stars-like-uber-to-create-a-real-sharing-economy-5a9752258d3c#.j56jlgwah https://medium.com/dark-mountain/how-platform-coops-can-beat...

aianus 11y ago

The barriers to entry (absent new Uber or AirBnB -specific regulations) are too low for either to ever gain "near-monopoly".