4 ms·

There are huge network effects at play with youtube. People discover new content (related videos) as they browse the site. With Dropbox, it seems, to me, like

by feral 15y ago

There are huge network effects at play with youtube. People discover new content (related videos) as they browse the site. With Dropbox, it seems, to me, like there are much fewer network effects at play. I don't know what percentage of activity on Dropbox involves sharing between Dropbox customers, but I'd guess its low? I also think its a big deal that I already sign into my Google account on every computer I use; if my files are just going to be there, with my docs, mail and calendar, I'm probably not going to use another service.

ry0ohki 15y ago
I don't know, that's one of the biggest benefits of Dropbox, I tell someone I'll add a shared drive and 9 times out of ten they already have a Dropbox account (in my tech world bubble at least)
- nostromo 15y ago
  Times they already have a Google account: 10/10
  - GoodIntentions 15y ago
    Yeah, but some folks have come to the same conclusion as jacquesm ( above ) and use the big G as little as possible. Sure, I have a google account. I almost never use it. For me, the epiphany came when my adsense account was suspended years ago. For what I never found out. I appealed and was reinstated. I then pulled adsense from every site. Lesson learned, and I don't need to learn it again.
  - ry0ohki 15y ago
    Presumably there is some software to be installed as well, but yeah I'm sure it's only a matter of time before the press releases of 170 million Google Drive users come out!
- nextstep 15y ago
  And the tenth time you get a referral bonus, and Dropbox gets another user!
- CamperBob 15y ago
  Does this sharing process still carve a giant hunk out of the recipient's Dropbox space allocation, though? That's what I don't understand about any of these services -- Google, Dropbox, and whoever else. If anything is "unlimited" these days, it's disk space. At this level of play 5 GB is about 25 cents worth of storage at most. Paying for disk space in the cloud is no smarter than renting a cable box from Comcast or leasing your phone from AT&T. If Dropbox could just get past the notion that disk space is worth anything, their value proposition would become a lot more interesting. If bandwidth is the real concern, which I imagine it is, then they need to find a way to charge for that instead.
Gormo 15y ago
I'd suspect that there's a reasonable network effect; I've used Dropbox as a group fileshare with three separate groups of people, and each time, new people signed up for Dropbox in order to participate. Their referral program is especially well-designed, too.

by feral 15y ago

ry0ohki 15y ago

I don't know, that's one of the biggest benefits of Dropbox, I tell someone I'll add a shared drive and 9 times out of ten they already have a Dropbox account (in my tech world bubble at least)

nostromo 15y ago
Times they already have a Google account: 10/10
- GoodIntentions 15y ago
  Yeah, but some folks have come to the same conclusion as jacquesm ( above ) and use the big G as little as possible. Sure, I have a google account. I almost never use it. For me, the epiphany came when my adsense account was suspended years ago. For what I never found out. I appealed and was reinstated. I then pulled adsense from every site. Lesson learned, and I don't need to learn it again.
- ry0ohki 15y ago
  Presumably there is some software to be installed as well, but yeah I'm sure it's only a matter of time before the press releases of 170 million Google Drive users come out!
nextstep 15y ago
And the tenth time you get a referral bonus, and Dropbox gets another user!
CamperBob 15y ago
Does this sharing process still carve a giant hunk out of the recipient's Dropbox space allocation, though? That's what I don't understand about any of these services -- Google, Dropbox, and whoever else. If anything is "unlimited" these days, it's disk space. At this level of play 5 GB is about 25 cents worth of storage at most. Paying for disk space in the cloud is no smarter than renting a cable box from Comcast or leasing your phone from AT&T. If Dropbox could just get past the notion that disk space is worth anything, their value proposition would become a lot more interesting. If bandwidth is the real concern, which I imagine it is, then they need to find a way to charge for that instead.

Gormo 15y ago

I'd suspect that there's a reasonable network effect; I've used Dropbox as a group fileshare with three separate groups of people, and each time, new people signed up for Dropbox in order to participate. Their referral program is especially well-designed, too.