4 ms·

Is this a natural property of the internet or is it a consequence of how internet businesses are usually funded? It always struck me as weird that "predatory pr

Is this a natural property of the internet or is it a consequence of how internet businesses are usually funded? It always struck me as weird that "predatory pricing" of a product at below cost can be considered anti-competitive behaviour when done by market leader, but is OK when done by a "start-up" fuelled by millions in VC money. This is especially apparent in the gig economy space, where local knowledge should give you a competitive advantage but instead you're forced to compete with foreign businesses that are happy to sell $2 worth of service for $1 of revenue.

freeone3000 5y ago
I think it's an issue with discovery. Organic discovery on the internet does not exist -- you do not pass by a cool internet store on your way to whatever else you were doing, the only way for you to know it exists is for it to be advertised to you.
fleddr 5y ago
Yes, I'd say centralization of attention/discovery is an inevitable force of the internet. For digital products, say "content", it has been there since the early beginnings. When people had their "independent" blog, already then they had blog rolls linking to other bloggers and over time a class of top bloggers emerged. A handful getting all traffic, the other 99.99% gets nothing. Before search engines, we had directories. Lists of links. But there's only so much space, so a few sites get all traffic, the rest none. We democratized it with things like Digg, but in reality 3 people decided what gets on the homepage. So yes, it seems to me that centralization of attention is built-in. Or rather, it's a human condition. A centralized service offers more convenience and people tend to do the most convenient thing. Creators do the exact same thing. ...and then we blame the platform. My point is that WE did it. WE created the situation, not the platform. As for physical goods, I consider that to be somewhat of a separate topic. The internet in itself does not magically produce and ship ultra cheap goods. Such a thing is only possible due to very specific international trade circumstances.

freeone3000 5y ago

I think it's an issue with discovery. Organic discovery on the internet does not exist -- you do not pass by a cool internet store on your way to whatever else you were doing, the only way for you to know it exists is for it to be advertised to you.

fleddr 5y ago

Yes, I'd say centralization of attention/discovery is an inevitable force of the internet. For digital products, say "content", it has been there since the early beginnings. When people had their "independent" blog, already then they had blog rolls linking to other bloggers and over time a class of top bloggers emerged. A handful getting all traffic, the other 99.99% gets nothing. Before search engines, we had directories. Lists of links. But there's only so much space, so a few sites get all traffic, the rest none. We democratized it with things like Digg, but in reality 3 people decided what gets on the homepage. So yes, it seems to me that centralization of attention is built-in. Or rather, it's a human condition. A centralized service offers more convenience and people tend to do the most convenient thing. Creators do the exact same thing. ...and then we blame the platform. My point is that WE did it. WE created the situation, not the platform. As for physical goods, I consider that to be somewhat of a separate topic. The internet in itself does not magically produce and ship ultra cheap goods. Such a thing is only possible due to very specific international trade circumstances.