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Egads! Why must we watch this pattern unfold over and over again? 1. Startup launches useful service 2. Service amasses huge user base 3. Pressure to moneti

by jcadam 9y ago

Egads! Why must we watch this pattern unfold over and over again? 1. Startup launches useful service 2. Service amasses huge user base 3. Pressure to monetize service degrades usefulness over time. 4. Service eventually becomes utterly useless, and never would have been successful if it had launched in its current state. 5. Inertia keeps service going until a worthy competitor in its 'eschew profitability and grow user base' phase arrives and the cycle repeats itself.

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
e40 9y ago
You forgot this one: 2.5. Company goes public and a bunch of people make lots of $$$.
lima 9y ago
Recent example: Blablacar, Europe's largest car sharing platform. They became popular in Germany after a money grab by Mitfahrgelegenheiten.de a few years ago. Now, it's Blablacar doing the money grab and people start looking for alternatives.
- PinguTS 9y ago
  Blablacar brought Mitfahrgelegenheit.de. So in Germany, both are basically the same.
  - lima 9y ago
    Mitfahrgelegenheit was the previous market leader, money grab happened, Blablacar became popular, Blablacar ended up buying them later.
- j1elo 9y ago
  In here they stayed free for several years, but in the end they started charging a service fee at around mid-2014. They penalized the lack of anticipated planning, i.e. the earlier you made a reservation, the less you paid. Likewise, if you were planning for the following day, you would pay the most, regardless of how many travels were being advertised for that day. I don't know if that's the price scheme still today, I haven't used it since then. There was a big movement of users to Amovens and similar clones. And, some big Whatsapp groups were created by people who do some trips regularly and wanted to avoid paying. Still today some of those groups exist, they are almost always full (max. 250 people or so in Whatsapp groups) and there are waiting lists of people interested in getting added. I assume similar groups exist in Telegram.
bryanrasmussen 9y ago
I'm not sure step 1 ever happened for LinkedIn,
- withdavidli 9y ago
  As much as I dislike LinkedIn purposely hiding information (this goes for paid and free users), it has been incredible for people with wanted skill sets to connect with possible employers. It has made a public resume something to be expected instead of a red flag by HR that you’re looking to leave. Only a decade ago it was mostly job boards like Monster/CareerBuilder, and Dice for the Tech focused. It’s a wealth of information on how companies are structured, and great research material for what accomplishments people have in roles/companies you want to be apart of.
- Gustomaximus 9y ago
  LinkedIn is not useful for you. Fine. But recognise they make a billion+ in annual revenue. Clearly they are useful for some people.
choward 9y ago
Exactly. This is why I'm always hesitant to use 3rd party services. Whenever I use a new app, I make sure there is an exit strategy. It needs to either be open source and self hostable or have a way to export data easily.
- jcadam 9y ago
  Yes, although Free and/or "Freemium" services seem to be the worst offenders here.
woadwarrior01 9y ago
They lost me as a user at step 2.5: Have your user data breached[1] and let the world know that you store your passwords as unsalted sha1 hashes, cuz you know, growth hacking's far more important than security best practices. [1]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_LinkedIn_hack https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_LinkedIn_hack
inopinatus 9y ago
My experience of LinkedIn has declined from a marginally diverting way to follow career progress of former colleagues (2005-2009) through a pointless recruiter circle-jerk (2010-2014) to being an unremitting fountain of scam sales-lead invites from profiles of dubious credibility (2015-). I disabled all notifications long ago. It is possible that this is the unavoidable fate of any professional-oriented social networking service. Nonetheless the value of LinkedIn to me is now effectively zero. I don't know anyone who respects their brand, and I'm left wondering if there's a gap in the market; c.f. Facebook vs Myspace ca.2008.
- stevekemp 9y ago
  I made the mistake of clicking on a link in a linkedin email last week. Now I'm getting one email a day tempting me with "offers". Until last week I was lucky enough to get one email a year,which was about the right frequency to not annoy me. I wish there were a less-evil linkedin site, but as things stand I'll be deleting my account soon I think.
- jcadam 9y ago
  > I'm left wondering if there's a gap in the market; c.f. Facebook vs Myspace ca.2008. I strongly suspect there is. I'd love to take a crack at it, but I rather doubt a new social network is something one would realistically be able to bootstrap these days (you would need some serious funding for marketing to get it off the ground).
  - jmartens 9y ago
    The form should probably be different than what we think of as a social network anyway.
    - jcadam 9y ago
      True. Social networks as they are today have become rather tedious and vapid and I've largely stopped keeping up with them. Something new is needed. Maybe I'll let my subconscious chew on the problem for a while :P

by jcadam 9y ago

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

e40 9y ago

You forgot this one: 2.5. Company goes public and a bunch of people make lots of $$$.

lima 9y ago

Recent example: Blablacar, Europe's largest car sharing platform. They became popular in Germany after a money grab by Mitfahrgelegenheiten.de a few years ago. Now, it's Blablacar doing the money grab and people start looking for alternatives.

PinguTS 9y ago
Blablacar brought Mitfahrgelegenheit.de. So in Germany, both are basically the same.
- lima 9y ago
  Mitfahrgelegenheit was the previous market leader, money grab happened, Blablacar became popular, Blablacar ended up buying them later.
j1elo 9y ago
In here they stayed free for several years, but in the end they started charging a service fee at around mid-2014. They penalized the lack of anticipated planning, i.e. the earlier you made a reservation, the less you paid. Likewise, if you were planning for the following day, you would pay the most, regardless of how many travels were being advertised for that day. I don't know if that's the price scheme still today, I haven't used it since then. There was a big movement of users to Amovens and similar clones. And, some big Whatsapp groups were created by people who do some trips regularly and wanted to avoid paying. Still today some of those groups exist, they are almost always full (max. 250 people or so in Whatsapp groups) and there are waiting lists of people interested in getting added. I assume similar groups exist in Telegram.

bryanrasmussen 9y ago

I'm not sure step 1 ever happened for LinkedIn,

withdavidli 9y ago
As much as I dislike LinkedIn purposely hiding information (this goes for paid and free users), it has been incredible for people with wanted skill sets to connect with possible employers. It has made a public resume something to be expected instead of a red flag by HR that you’re looking to leave. Only a decade ago it was mostly job boards like Monster/CareerBuilder, and Dice for the Tech focused. It’s a wealth of information on how companies are structured, and great research material for what accomplishments people have in roles/companies you want to be apart of.
Gustomaximus 9y ago
LinkedIn is not useful for you. Fine. But recognise they make a billion+ in annual revenue. Clearly they are useful for some people.

choward 9y ago

Exactly. This is why I'm always hesitant to use 3rd party services. Whenever I use a new app, I make sure there is an exit strategy. It needs to either be open source and self hostable or have a way to export data easily.

jcadam 9y ago
Yes, although Free and/or "Freemium" services seem to be the worst offenders here.

woadwarrior01 9y ago

They lost me as a user at step 2.5: Have your user data breached[1] and let the world know that you store your passwords as unsalted sha1 hashes, cuz you know, growth hacking's far more important than security best practices. [1]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_LinkedIn_hack https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_LinkedIn_hack

inopinatus 9y ago

My experience of LinkedIn has declined from a marginally diverting way to follow career progress of former colleagues (2005-2009) through a pointless recruiter circle-jerk (2010-2014) to being an unremitting fountain of scam sales-lead invites from profiles of dubious credibility (2015-). I disabled all notifications long ago. It is possible that this is the unavoidable fate of any professional-oriented social networking service. Nonetheless the value of LinkedIn to me is now effectively zero. I don't know anyone who respects their brand, and I'm left wondering if there's a gap in the market; c.f. Facebook vs Myspace ca.2008.

stevekemp 9y ago
I made the mistake of clicking on a link in a linkedin email last week. Now I'm getting one email a day tempting me with "offers". Until last week I was lucky enough to get one email a year,which was about the right frequency to not annoy me. I wish there were a less-evil linkedin site, but as things stand I'll be deleting my account soon I think.
jcadam 9y ago
> I'm left wondering if there's a gap in the market; c.f. Facebook vs Myspace ca.2008. I strongly suspect there is. I'd love to take a crack at it, but I rather doubt a new social network is something one would realistically be able to bootstrap these days (you would need some serious funding for marketing to get it off the ground).
- jmartens 9y ago
  The form should probably be different than what we think of as a social network anyway.
  - jcadam 9y ago
    True. Social networks as they are today have become rather tedious and vapid and I've largely stopped keeping up with them. Something new is needed. Maybe I'll let my subconscious chew on the problem for a while :P