If people cared about any of that, truly, deeply, then why is Gmail so dominant? I’ll use Gmail as an example here, as I think it has less network effects than

If people cared about any of that, truly, deeply, then why is Gmail so dominant? I’ll use Gmail as an example here, as I think it has less network effects than Facebook. Yes, there’s the big damn hurdle of having to have contacts update your email address, but past that, there are absolutely alternatives like FastMail. But those cost money, so they have not taken off. (I pay for FastMail, I love FastMail, I think they’re profitable, they are not going to set the Nasdaq on fire.) I remember, in the olden days of Facebook, back when it was very college-only, that people would post all sorts of fake news that Zuckerberg was going to start charging for the service, and people would bitch and moan like you would not believe. Privacy is a think people think they want, and arguably do want, but their revealed preference is to trade privacy for free.