The reality is that new products are often greeted by a nice initial spike of users, but this falls to a trickle as the novelty wears off. Maybe there’s another push, which again goes nowhere. People won’t use their product unless their friends are on it. Features are feverishly added, marketing efforts are redoubled, but the network never gets off

Networked products, on the other hand, have the unique capability to reactivate these users by enlisting active users to bring them back.