I'm sure a similar question was asked by/of VCs back in the day for ads-supported webmail platforms - a la hotmail, gmail, yahoo mail, etc. I'm sure VCs at the

I'm sure a similar question was asked by/of VCs back in the day for ads-supported webmail platforms - a la hotmail, gmail, yahoo mail, etc. I'm sure VCs at the time asked why should these platforms be built if email is an open standard, and if everyone has their own desktop email client. And yet, so many users have prospered by some users using these "free" webmail platforms and others using the conventional desktop email clients. Email is decentralized and for all its warts has allowed collaboration between users of different silos. If/when social platforms begin to use more universal/interchangable/inter-communicational standards, the various silos can still compete - including private/self-hosted, community-hosted, for-profit silos, etc. - though the competition won't be on limiting communication, but rather can this silo/site provide better uptime/availability, or can that silo/site develop better mobile/desktop/web clients, or can a silo/site offer better discoverability, or even (for the for-profit silos) can this silo/site offer more relevant ads, etc.