Price-First or Thesis-First Research?

Facebook, again, is the extreme example here: the service got started with user-generated content and has continually retrenched over the last few years to have more user-generated content and less professionally produced content; every time they have done so, publishers have cried foul over all of the traffic they were losing. Google, meanwhile, d... See more

I was reminded of the smiling curve while reading this excellent piece by David Carr in the New York Times about Facebook and publishers:For traditional publishers, the home page may soon become akin to the print edition — nice to have, but not the primary attraction. In the last few months, more than half the visitors to The New York Times have co... See more

The best examples from the last two decades are Google and Facebooks’s multi-sided network effects. People prefer searching and connecting with each other on these properties, so advertisers and content creators keep using them. It creates a virtuous cycle, and makes the self-interested move on every player’s part one that reinforces these companie... See more