I think this article is poorly named. If it were titled "Your API must be Compelling" it would make sense (but only as much as "if the sun is up it's daytime" m

I think this article is poorly named. If it were titled "Your API must be Compelling" it would make sense (but only as much as "if the sun is up it's daytime" makes sense). The term platform is way overused and poorly understood. When I think of a platform I think of something that enables a virtuous cycle of participation from 3rd parties. A virtuous cycle will never be created if there isn't something in the mix that is compelling. Very rarely (if ever) is the compelling thing the platform itself. It is, instead, almost always some value proposition delivered to end users. See my blog post on this subject here: "Be Either an App or a Platform" http://ceklog.kindel.com/2011/08/24/be-either-an-app-or-a-platform-not-both/ http://ceklog.kindel.com/2011/08/24/be-either-an-app-or-a-pl... (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2925566 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2925566) Which got some discussion here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2912794 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2912794