Platform Revolution Quotes

In some cases, they are already doing so. Influenced by a coalition of community groups, the New York City Council passed a historic budget in the summer of 2014 that created a $1.2 million fund for the growth of worker-owned cooperatives. Richmond, California has hired a cooperative developer and is launching a loan fund; Cleveland, Ohio has been actively involved in starting a network of cooperatives, as we’ll see in the next chapter; and Jackson, Mississippi elected a mayor (Chokwe Lumumba) in 2013 on a platform that included the use of public spending to promote co-ops. On the federal level, progressive politicians like Bernie Sanders are working to get the government more involved in supporting employee ownership.130

Silicon Valley dreams of destructive revolution, and platforms designed in ways that supercharge identity into a matter of totalizing and existential conflict.

The next phase of the Digital Revolution will bring even more new methods of marrying technology with the creative industries, such as media, fashion, music, entertainment, education, literature, and the arts. Much of the first round of innovation involved pouring old wine—books, newspapers, opinion pieces, journals, songs, television shows, movies—into new digital bottles. But new platforms, services, and social networks are increasingly enabling fresh opportunities for individual imagination and collaborative creativity. Role-playing games and interactive plays are merging with collaborative forms of storytelling and augmented realities. This interplay between technology and the arts will eventually result in completely new forms of expression and formats of media. This innovation will come from people who are able to link beauty to engineering, humanity to technology, and poetry to processors. In other words, it will come from the spiritual heirs of Ada Lovelace, creators who can flourish where the arts intersect with the sciences and who have a rebellious sense of wonder that opens them to the beauty of both.

In today’s hypercompetitive environment enabled by technology, ownership of infrastructure no longer provides a defensible advantage. Instead, flexibility provides the crucial competitive edge, competition is perpetual motion, and advantage is evanescent.

party….” In New York, several thousand gathered at Tompkins Square. The tone of the meeting was moderate, speaking of “a political revolution through the ballot box.” And: “If you will unite, we may have here within five years a socialistic republic…. Then will a lovely morning break over this darkened land.” It was a peaceful meeting. It adjourned. The last words heard from the platform were: “Whatever we poor men may not have, we have free speech, and no one can take it from us.” Then the police charged, using their clubs.

The derisive term bloatware has been coined to describe software systems that have become complicated, slow, and inefficient through thoughtless accretion of features.

The Constitution, the National Assembly, the dynastic parties, the blue and the red republicans, the heroes of Africa, the thunder from the platform, the sheet lightning of the daily press, the entire literature, the political names and the intellectual reputations, the civil law and penal code, the liberté, égalité, fraternité and the second of May 1852—all have vanished like a phantasmagoria before the spell of a man whom even his enemies do not make out to be a magician. Universal suffrage seems to have survived only for a moment, in order that with its own hand it may make its last will and testament before the eyes of all the world and declare in the name of the people itself: Everything that exists has this much worth, that it will perish.

I have been taunted on various platforms recently for becoming a neo-conservative, and have been the object of some fascinating web-site and blog stuff, from the isolationist Right as well as from the peaceniks, who both argue in a semi-literate way that neo-conservativism is Trotskyism and 'permanent revolution' reborn. Sometimes, you have to comb an overt anti-Semitism out of this propaganda before you can even read it straight. And I can guarantee you that none of these characters has any idea at all of what the theory of 'permanent revolution' originally meant.

Platforms vary from country to country, between right-wing populists and left-wing populists, but they share a dismissive attitude toward norms and practices like free speech, parliamentary procedures, and independent institutions.

The combination of GNU and Linux created an operating system that has been ported to more hardware platforms, ranging from the world’s ten biggest supercomputers to embedded systems in mobile phones, than any other operating system.

However, simplicity is a virtue when developing metrics for your platform business. Overcomplex metrics make management less effective by introducing noise, discouraging frequent analysis, and distracting from the handful of data points that are most significant.

In her 2014 book The People’s Platform, the writer and filmmaker Astra Taylor challenged the idea that the so-called digital revolution had democratized culture. In particular, she warned that the same problems of “consolidation, centralization, and commercialism” that defined our old media systems would continue to shape the digital world without a serious reckoning.

most memorable moment came when someone asked if Mr. Trump supported the Reform Party platform.”9 “Well. Nobody knows what the Reform Party platform is,” Trump loudly responded. A man offered Trump a copy of the platform as boos rang out from the crowd. The fact is that no one really cares about a party platform except those people who write it. Unfortunately, those were the exact people Trump was addressing.

The combination of GNU and Linux created an operating system that has been ported to more hardware platforms, ranging from the world’s ten biggest supercomputers to embedded systems in mobile phones, than any other operating system. “Linux is subversive,” wrote Eric Raymond. “Who would have thought that a world-class operating system could coalesce as if by magic out of part-time hacking by several thousand developers scattered all over the planet,

The great majority of those who, like Frankl, were liberated from Nazi concentration camps chose to leave for other countries rather than return to their former homes, where far too many neighbors had turned murderous. But Viktor Frankl chose to stay in his native Vienna after being freed and became head of neurology at a main hospital in Vienna. The Austrians he lived among often perplexed Frankl by saying they did not know a thing about the horrors of the camps he had barely survived. For Frankl, though, this alibi seemed flimsy. These people, he felt, had chosen not to know. Another survivor of the Nazis, the social psychologist Ervin Staub, was saved from a certain death by Raoul Wallenberg, the diplomat who made Swedish passports for thousands of desperate Hungarians, keeping them safe from the Nazis. Staub studied cruelty and hatred, and he found one of the roots of such evil to be the turning away, choosing not to see or know, of bystanders. That not-knowing was read by perpetrators as a tacit approval. But if instead witnesses spoke up in protest of evil, Staub saw, it made such acts more difficult for the evildoers. For Frankl, the “not-knowing” he encountered in postwar Vienna was regarding the Nazi death camps scattered throughout that short-lived empire, and the obliviousness of Viennese citizens to the fate of their own neighbors who were imprisoned and died in those camps. The underlying motive for not-knowing, he points out, is to escape any sense of responsibility or guilt for those crimes. People in general, he saw, had been encouraged by their authoritarian rulers not to know—a fact of life today as well. That same plea of innocence, I had no idea, has contemporary resonance in the emergence of an intergenerational tension. Young people around the world are angry at older generations for leaving as a legacy to them a ruined planet, one where the momentum of environmental destruction will go on for decades, if not centuries. This environmental not-knowing has gone on for centuries, since the Industrial Revolution. Since then we have seen the invention of countless manufacturing platforms and processes, most all of which came to be in an era when we had no idea of their ecological impacts. Advances in science and technology are making ecological impacts more transparent, and so creating options that address the climate crisis and, hopefully, will be pursued across the globe and over generations. Such disruptive, truly “green” alternatives are one way to lessen the bleakness of Earth 2.0—the planet in future decades—a compelling fact of life for today’s young. Were Frankl with us today (he died in 1997), he would no doubt be pleased that so many of today’s younger people are choosing to know and are finding purpose and meaning in surfacing environmental facts and acting on them.

Labourism was to be the bete noire of the Party, hated as much as the capitalist system itself. Its growth was to lead to the hardening of Party attitudes almost to the point where even the wish to improve everyday conditions was considered iniquitous. The resentment was heated by the fact that many of the rising Labour leaders had been fellow members of the Social Democratic Federation and once professed the revolution.No words were strong enough for the Party's contempt. In the the Socialist Standard they were 'fakirs', a strong allusion to self-seeking piety, and on the platforms 'Labour bleeders',...

By tracing the early history of USCYBERCOM it is possible to understand some of the reasons why the military has focused almost completely on network defense and cyber attack while being unaware of the need to address the vulnerabilities in systems that could be exploited in future conflicts against technologically capable adversaries. It is a problem mirrored in most organizations. The network security staff are separate from the endpoint security staff who manage desktops through patch and vulnerability management tools and ensure that software and anti-virus signatures are up to date. Meanwhile, the development teams that create new applications, web services, and digital business ventures, work completely on their own with little concern for security. The analogous behavior observed in the military is the creation of new weapons systems, ISR platforms, precision targeting, and C2 capabilities without ensuring that they are resistant to the types of attacks that USCYBERCOM and the NSA have been researching and deploying. USCYBERCOM had its genesis in NCW thinking. First the military worked to participate in the information revolution by joining their networks together. Then it recognized the need for protecting those networks, now deemed cyberspace. The concept that a strong defense requires a strong offense, carried over from missile defense and Cold War strategies, led to a focus on network attack and less emphasis on improving resiliency of computing platforms and weapons systems.

Buy Verified Binance Accounts: Your Fast Track to Seamless Crypto Trading with GlobalPvaShop The world of cryptocurrency is evolving faster than ever. From everyday traders to professional investors and global businesses, more people are turning to digital assets to store value, transact securely, and capitalize on market opportunities. One platform stands out in this revolution: Binance — the world’s largest and most popular cryptocurrency exchange. If you're eager to dive into the crypto world or scale your current trading operation, owning a verified Binance account is essential. But for many users, especially those facing regional restrictions or struggling with the ID verification process, getting verified on Binance can be a frustrating and time-consuming ordeal. This is where a reliable solution comes in: buying a verified Binance account from a trusted seller like GlobalPvaShop. It’s safe, efficient, and gives you immediate access to the full features of the Binance ecosystem.

On the train I had a lot of time to think. I thought how in the thirty years of my life I had seldom gotten on a train in America without being conscious of my color. In the South, there are Jim Crow cars and Negroes must ride separate from the whites, usually in a filthy antiquated coach next to the engine, getting all the smoke and bumps and dirt. In the South, we cannot buy sleeping car tickets. Such comforts are only for white folks. And in the North where segregated travel is not the law, colored people have, nevertheless, many difficulties. In auto buses they must take the seats in the rear, over the wheels. On the boats they must occupy the worst cabins. The ticket agents always say that all other accommodations are sold. On trains, if one sits down by a white person, the white person will sometimes get up, flinging back an insult at the Negro who has dared to take a seat beside him. Thus it is that in America, if you are yellow, brown, or black, you can never travel anywhere without being reminded of your color, and oft-times suffering great inconveniences. I sat in the comfortable sleeping car on my first day out of Moscow and remembered many things about trips I had taken in America. I remembered how, once as a youngster going alone to see my father who was working in Mexico, I went into the dining car of the train to eat. I sat down at a table with a white man. The man looked at me and said, "You're a nigger, ain't you?" and left the table. It was beneath his dignity to eat with a Negro child. At St. Louis I went onto the station platform to buy a glass of milk. The clerk behind the counter said, “We don't serve niggers," and refused to sell me anything. As I grew older I learned to expect this often when traveling. So when I went South to lecture on my poetry at Negro universities, I carried my own food because I knew I could not go into the dining cars. Once from Washington to New Orleans, I lived all the way on the train on cold food. I remembered this miserable trip as I sat eating a hot dinner on the diner of the Moscow-Tashkent express. Traveling South from New York, at Washington, the capital of our country, the official Jim Crow begins. There the conductor comes through the train and, if you are a Negro, touches you on the shoulder and says, "The last coach forward is the car for colored people." Then you must move your baggage and yourself up near the engine, because when the train crosses the Potomac River into Virginia, and the dome of the Capitol disappears, it is illegal any longer for white people and colored people to ride together. (Or to eat together, or sleep together, or in some places even to work together.) Now I am riding South from Moscow and am not Jim-Crowed, and none of the darker people on the train with me are Jim-Crowed, so I make a happy mental note in the back of my mind to write home to the Negro papers: "There is no Jim Crow on the trains of the Soviet Union.

[Description of the behind-the-scenes situation of the Beer Hall Putsch] The crowd began to grow so sullen that Goering felt it necessary to step to the rostrum and quiet them. “There is nothing to fear,” he cried. “We have the friendliest intentions. For that matter, you’ve no cause to grumble, you’ve got your beer!” And he informed them that in the next room a new government was being formed. It was, at the point of Adolf Hitler’s revolver. Once he had herded his prisoners into the adjoining room, Hitler told them, “No one leaves this room alive without my permission.” He then informed them they would all have key jobs either in the Bavarian government or in the Reich government which he was forming with Ludendorff. With Ludendorff? Earlier in the evening Hitler had dispatched “Scheubner-Richter to Lud-wigshoehe to fetch the renowned General, who knew nothing of the Nazi conspiracy, to the beerhouse at once. The three prisoners at first refused even to speak to Hitler. He continued to harangue them. Each of them must join him in proclaiming the revolution and the new governments; each must take the post he, Hitler, assigned them, or “he has no right to exist.” Kahr was to be the Regent of Bavaria; Lossow, Minister of the National Army; Seisser, Minister of the Reich Police. None of the three was impressed at the prospect of such high office. They did not answer. Their continued silence unnerved Hitler. Finally he waved his gun at them. “I have four shots in my pistol! Three for my collaborators, if they abandon me. The last bullet for myself!” Pointing the weapon to his forehead, he cried, “If I am not victorious by tomorrow afternoon, I shall be a dead man!” (...) Not one of the three men who held the power of the Bavarian state in their hands agreed to join him, even at pistol point. The putsch wasn’t going according to plan. Then Hitler acted on a sudden impulse. Without a further word, he dashed back into the hall, mounted the tribune, faced the sullen crowd and announced that the members of the triumvirate in the next room had joined him in forming a new national government. “The Bavarian Ministry,” he shouted, “is removed…. The government of the November criminals and the Reich President are declared to be removed. A new national government will be named this very day here in Munich. Not for the first time and certainly not for the last, Hitler had told a masterful lie, and it worked. When the gathering heard that Kahr, General von Lossow and Police Chief von Seisser had joined Hitler its mood abruptly changed. There were loud cheers, and the sound of them impressed the three men still locked up in the little side room. (...) He led the others back to the platform, where each made a brief speech and swore loyalty to each other and to the new regime. The crowd leaped on chairs and tables in a delirium of enthusiasm. Hitler beamed with joy.

Where can you Buy Verified Binance Accounts with free credits? If you want to know more or have any queries, just knock us here– ➤Email: usasmmworld@gmail.com ➤Telegram: @Usasmmworld ➤Skype: Usasmmworld ➤WhatsApp: +1 971 915 3679 The world of cryptocurrency is rapidly evolving, and Binance stands at the forefront of this revolution. With millions of users worldwide, it has become one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in existence. But as traders flock to this platform, a vital question arises: What sets verified accounts apart from regular ones? A verified Binance account not only enhances your trading experience but also opens doors to a plethora of opportunities that unverified accounts simply cannot access. As demand surges for these trusted accounts, more individuals are considering an alternative path—buy verified Binance accounts. If you’re looking to dive into the crypto market or elevate your trading game, understanding what buying a verified Binance account entails is crucial. Let’s explore why these accounts matter and how they can redefine your trading adventure while ensuring you remain safe in the ever-changing landscape of digital currencies. What is a Verified Binance Account? Buy verified Binance accounts is a user profile on the Binance exchange that has undergone a thorough identification process. This verification typically involves submitting personal information and documents to confirm your identity. Once verified, you gain access to enhanced features and services unavailable to unverified users. These can include higher withdrawal limits, the ability to participate in token sales, and increased trading options. Verification usually requires providing some basic details like your name, address, and government-issued ID. The process ensures compliance with regulations aimed at combating fraud and money laundering. Having a verified account builds trust within the community while allowing for smoother transactions. It’s an essential step for anyone serious about trading or investing in cryptocurrencies on one of the world’s leading exchanges. Importance of Verified Accounts on Binance Buy Verified accounts on Binance are crucial for several reasons. First, they enhance security. Users with verified accounts gain access to additional layers of protection against fraud and identity theft. If you want to know more or have any queries, just knock us here– ➤Email: usasmmworld@gmail.com ➤Telegram: @Usasmmworld ➤Skype: Usasmmworld ➤WhatsApp: +1 971 915 3679 Additionally, verification helps in complying with regulatory requirements. It promotes responsible trading practices by ensuring that users are who they claim to be. This transparency builds trust within the cryptocurrency community. Furthermore, having a verified account unlocks higher withdrawal limits and full access to all exchange features. Without verification, users may face restrictions that hinder their trading experience. In an evolving market where scams abound, maintaining a verified status can significantly reduce risks associated with unauthorized transactions or account breaches. The importance of these accounts cannot be overstated; they form the backbone of safe and efficient trading on Binance. If you want to know more or have any queries, just knock us here– ➤Email: usasmmworld@gmail.com ➤Telegram: @Usasmmworld ➤Skype: Usasmmworld ➤WhatsApp: +1 971 915 3679

Demonstrating for peace to promote war was nothing new. Totalitarianism always requires a tangible enemy. To the ancient Greeks, a holocaust was simply a burnt sacrifice. Khrushchev wanted to go down in history as the Soviet leader who exported communism to the American continent. In 1959 he was able to install the Castro brothers in Havana and soon my foreign intelligence service became involved in helping Cuba's new communist rulers to export revolution throughout South America. At that point it did not work. In the 1950s and 1960s most Latin Americans were poor, religious peasants who had accepted the status quo. A black version of liberation theology began growing in a few radical-leftist black churches in the US where Marxist thought is predicated on a system pf oppressor class ( white ) versus victim class ( black ) and it sees just one solution: the destruction of the enemy. In the 1950s UNESCO was perceived by many as a platform for communists to attack the West and the KGB used it to place agents around the world. Che Guevara's diaries, with an introduction by Fidel Castro, were produced by the Kremlin's dezinformatsiya machine. Changing minds is what Soviet communism was all about. Khrushchev's political necrophagy ( = blaming and condemning one's predecessor in office. It is a dangerous game. It hurts the country's national pride and it usually turns against its own user ) evolved from the Soviet tradition of sanctifying the supreme ruler. Although the communists publicly proclaimed the decisive role of the people in history, the Kremlin and its KGB believed that only the leader counted. Change the public image of the leader and you change history, I heard over and over from Khrushchev's lips. Khrushchev was certainly the most controversial Soviet to reign in the Kremlin. He unmasked Stalin's crimes, but he made political assassination a main instrument of his own foreign policy; he authored a policy of peaceful coexistence with the West but he pushed the world to the brink of nuclear war; he repaired Moscow's relationships with Yugoslavia's Tito, but he destroyed the unity of the communist world. His close association with Stalin's killings made him aware of what political crime could accomplish and gave him a taste for the simple criminal solution. His total ignorance about the civilized world, together with his irrational hatred of the "bourgeoisie" and his propensity to offend people, made him believe that disinformation and threats were the most efficient and dignified way for a Soviet leader to deal with "bourgeois" governments. As that very clever master of deception Yuri Andropov once told me, if a good piece of disinformation is repeated over and over, after a while it will take on a life of its own and will, all by itself, generate a horde or unwitting but passionate advocates. When I was working for Ceausescu, I always tried to find a way to help him reach a decision on his own, rather than telling him directly what I thought he should do about something. That way both of us were happy. From our KGB advisors, I had learned that the best way to ut over a deception was to let the target see something for himself, with his own eyes. By 1999, President Yeltsin's ill-conceived privatization had enabled a small clique of predatory insiders to plunder Russia's most valuable assets. The corruption generated by this widespread looting penetrated every corner of the country and it eventually created a Mafia-style economic system that threatened the stability of Russia itself. During the old Cold War, the KGB was a state within a state. In Putin's time, the KGB now rechristened FSB, is the state. The Soviet Union had one KGB officer for every 428 citizens. In 2004, Putin's Russia had one FSB officer for every 297 citizens.

Buy Verified Revolut Accounts We provide fully verified Revolut accounts that are verified by number, email, SSN, passport, driving license, photo ID card and other documents. You can buy verified Revolut account from usukseller with 100% placement and money back guarantee. We have personal and business Revolut accounts at affordable prices. Our Revolut Account Details- Bank details Full SSN Provided Driving License Scan Copy Personal & Business Revolut Accounts USA, UK, Canada, AUS other countries Revolut Account Available Full Customer Support If you want to know more or have any queries, just knock us here- 24 Hours Reply/Contact ✅➤Telegram:@usukseller ✅➤Whatsapp: +1(939)328-6215‪ ✅➤Email: usukseller6@gmail.com Buy Verified Revolut Accounts If you’re a freelancer, run an online business, or trade internationally, managing finances across borders can be a daunting task. High fees, slow transactions, and complicated banking requirements often slow you down. This is where Revolut, a globally trusted financial technology platform, makes a difference. But to unlock its full potential, having a verified Revolut account is key. If you’re considering buying a verified Revolut account, this guide will walk you through its benefits, the risks of unverified accounts, how to select a trusted provider, and crucial tips for maintaining security and compliance. What is Revolut, and Why Should You Care? Revolut is an all-in-one financial tool that allows individuals and businesses to send and receive money globally in multiple currencies. Designed for the digital era, Revolut provides features like borderless transactions, low exchange rates, and seamless integration with global payment platforms. By offering a smarter alternative to traditional banking, Revolut is a favorite among freelancers, online entrepreneurs, and international traders. Here’s why it’s highly valued: Low fees: Say goodbye to hefty international banking fees. Instant transactions: Send money in seconds, not days. Multi-currency support: Hold, exchange, or spend over 30 currencies within a single account. User-friendly app: The intuitive interface makes managing expenses a breeze. If you want your global money management to be seamless, a Revolut account is an indispensable tool. Why Verified Accounts Are Essential A verified Revolut account elevates your experience, ensuring you unlock the platform’s full array of benefits. Verification involves providing identity documents, addressing Revolut’s compliance requirements for KYC (Know Your Customer) and anti-money laundering laws. Here’s why a verified account is a must-have for business professionals: Higher transaction limits A verified account allows larger transactions, making it practical for managing substantial international payments. Access to premium features Features like virtual cards, cryptocurrency trading, and detailed analytics are exclusively available to verified accounts. Improved trust and credibility Business partners and clients are more likely to trust payments coming from verified sources. Reduced account suspension risks Revolut monitors for account misuse or violations. Verification reduces the risk of getting flagged or restricted. Risks of Using Unverified Accounts It’s tempting to skip verification, especially if you’re in a rush to start using Revolut. But unverified accounts have significant limitations and risks, including: Low transaction limits that hinder business operations. Restricted functionality, blocking access to advanced tools like currency exchange. High risk of suspension if flagged for suspicious activities. Trust issues with clients wary of receiving payments from unverified accounts. For freelancers, businesses, or traders, these risks could lead to missed opportunities or financial losses.

Today, thanks to the social media revolution, clients actually own media and consequently a platform to express themselves.

For a modern-day PR expert, it is absolutely essential to know social media platforms in detail.

Its official platform, the so-called Erfurt Program, adopted in 1891, contended that the interests of the “bourgeois” state and the working class were irreconcilable and that, accordingly, workers had no stake in their nation: they owed loyalty only to their class. It reaffirmed the international unity of labor and the imminence of a revolution that would crush capitalism and the bourgeoisie around the globe.

Its platform, subsequently published abroad, was suppressed inside Russia. Its efforts to arouse worker support by clandestinely distributing such materials as the text of Lenin’s testament and by organizing street demonstrations in Moscow and Leningrad on November 7, 1927, the tenth anniversary of the Revolution, were foiled by the authorities.

Bitcoin isn’t the only cryptocurrency in town. There are well over 2000 competing cryptocurrencies, known as altcoins,[410] each with its own features, mining algorithms, and (in some cases) blockchains. Some are specialized for particular kinds of payments, others aim to build a platform for apps, and others just seek to improve on Bitcoin’s flaws. Altcoins have gotten bigger and bigger over time — Bitcoin controlled 90% of the cryptocurrency market back in 2015 but just over 60% at the time of writing.

PayPal’s big challenge was to get new customers. They tried advertising. It was too expensive. They tried BD [business development] deals with big banks. Bureaucratic hilarity ensued. … the PayPal team reached an important conclusion: BD didn’t work. They needed organic, viral growth. They needed to give people money. So that’s what they did. New customers got $10 for signing up, and existing ones got $10 for referrals. Growth went exponential, and PayPal wound up paying $20 for each new customer. It felt like things were working and not working at the same time; 7 to 10 percent daily growth and 100 million users was good. No revenues and an exponentially growing cost structure were not. Things felt a little unstable. PayPal needed buzz so it could raise more capital and continue on. (Ultimately, this worked out. That does not mean it’s the best way to run a company. Indeed, it probably isn’t.)2

Most important, the PayPal team realized that getting users to sign up wasn’t enough; they needed them to try the payment service, recognize its value to them, and become regular users. In other words, user commitment was more important than user acquisition. So PayPal designed the incentives to tip new customers into the ranks of active users. Not only did the incentive payments make joining PayPal feel riskless and attractive, they also virtually guaranteed that new users would start participating in transactions—if only to spend the $10 they’d been gifted in their accounts.

Furthermore, for a platform business, user commitment and active usage, not sign-ups or acquisitions, are the true indicators of customer adoption. That’s why platforms must attract users by structuring incentives for participation—preferably incentives that are organically connected to the interactions made possible by the platform. Traditionally, the marketing function was divorced from the product. In network businesses, marketing needs to be baked into the platform.

Staging value creation. The platform managers arrange for the creation of value units that will attract one or more sets of users and demonstrate the potential benefits of participating in the platform.5 Those initial users create more value units, attract still other users, and set up a positive feedback loop that leads to continuing growth.6 The Huffington Post followed this strategy by hiring writers to create an initial array of high-quality blog posts for the site, thereby attracting readers. Some of these readers began contributing blog posts of their own, leading to the gradual development of a wider network of content creators and attracting even more readers.

3.  The seeding strategy. Create value units that will be relevant to at least one set of potential users. When these users are attracted to the platform, other sets of users who want to engage in interactions with them will follow. In many cases, the platform company takes the task of value creation upon itself by acting as the first producer. In addition to kickstarting the platform, this strategy allows the platform owner to define the kind and quality of value units they want to see on the platform, thereby encouraging a culture of high-quality contributions among subsequent producers.7

The platform is a simple-sounding yet transformative concept that is radically changing business, the economy, and society at large. As we’ll explain, practically any industry in which information is an important ingredient is a candidate for the platform revolution. That includes businesses whose “product” is information (like education and media) but also any business where access to information about customer needs, price fluctuations, supply and demand, and market trends has value—which includes almost every business.

Chatroulette pairs random people from around the world for webcam conversations. People can leave a conversation at any time by initiating a new connection or simply by quitting. The strangely addictive site grew from twenty people at launch in late 2009 to more than 1.5 million users six months later. Initially, Chatroulette had no registration requirement and no controls of any kind, leading to what became known as the Naked Hairy Men problem. As the network grew without policing, a growing number of naked hairy men showed up to chat, leading many of the non-naked, non-hairy others to abandon the network. As legitimate users fled, the noise level on the platform increased, setting a negative feedback loop in motion.

Of course, cross-side effects are not necessarily symmetrical. On OkCupid, women attract men more than men attract women. On Uber, a single driver is more critical to growth than a single rider. On Android, a single developer’s app attracts users more than a single user attracts developer apps. On Twitter, the vast majority of people read, while a minority tweet. On question-and-answer networks like Quora, the vast majority asks questions, while a minority answers them.15

Standard accounting practices might not factor the value of communities into the value of a firm, but stock markets do. Little by little, the accountants are catching up. A team of experts collaborating with the consulting and accounting firm of Deloitte published research that sorts companies into four broad categories based on their chief economic activity: asset builders, service providers, technology creators, and network orchestrators. Asset builders develop physical assets that they use to deliver physical goods; companies like Ford and Walmart are examples. Service providers employ workers who provide services to customers; companies like UnitedHealthcare and Accenture are examples. Technology creators develop and sell forms of intellectual property, such as software and biotechnology; Microsoft and Amgen are examples. And network orchestrators develop networks in which people and companies create value together—in effect, platform businesses. The research suggests that, of the four, network orchestrators are by far the most efficient value creators. On average, they enjoy a market multiplier (based on the relationship between a firm’s market valuation and its price-to-earnings ratio) of 8.2, as compared with 4.8 for technology creators, 2.6 for service providers, and 2.0 for asset builders.16 It’s only a slight simplification to say that that quantitative difference represents the value produced by network effects.

The primary venue for activities in which value is created for participants shifts from an internal production department to a collection of external producers and consumers—which means that management of externalities becomes a key leadership skill. Growth comes not from horizontal integration and vertical integration but from functional integration and network orchestration. The focus on processes such as finance and accounting shifts from cash flows and assets you can own to communities and assets you can influence. And while platform businesses themselves are often extraordinarily profitable, the chief locus of wealth creation is now outside rather than inside the organization.

Fasal is an online system that connects farmers in rural India directly with market agents and other buyers. Via Fasal, farmers can quickly learn the price of goods at a number of nearby markets, choose the sales location most advantageous to them, and use the data to negotiate a better deal, a challenge that exists around the world.2 Sangeet Choudary, one of the authors of this book, led the commercialization and launch of the Fasal initiative. One of the challenges facing Choudary and his team was figuring out what kind of communications infrastructure they could use to enable producers and consumers to share value units. They realized that the big advantage working in their favor was cell phones. More than half of Indian farmers, even the poorest, own and use cell phones. In fact, as in much of the developing world, cell phone use in rural India has spread rapidly. Cellular telephony, with its instant communications capability, became the conduit for the market data the small farmers so desperately needed.

which we summarize as pull, facilitate, and match. The platform must pull the producers and consumers to the platform, which enables interactions among them. It must facilitate their interactions by providing them with tools and rules that make it easy for them to connect and that encourage valuable exchanges (while discouraging others). And it must match producers and consumers effectively by using information about each to connect them in ways they will find mutually rewarding. All three functions must be performed well if the platform is to succeed. A platform that fails to pull participants will be unable to create the network effects that make the platform valuable.

Jake McKeon founded the social network Moodswing as a place where people could share their emotional states, from elation to gloom. Over time, he found that some users were turning to Moodswing in times of severe depression, and a few even used the site to threaten suicide. Distressed, McKeon decided to try to provide these users with the emotional support they needed. He concocted a plan to recruit psychology students who would volunteer to offer counseling and advice via chat lines to depressed Moodswing members. The volunteers would be tested and vetted in an effort to curate their quality. This “amateur therapy” offering would represent a new form of value exchange facilitated by Moodswing.

Jake McKeon founded the social network Moodswing as a place where people could share their emotional states, from elation to gloom. Over time, he found that some users were turning to Moodswing in times of severe depression, and a few even used the site to threaten suicide. Distressed, McKeon decided to try to provide these users with the emotional support they needed. He concocted a plan to recruit psychology students who would volunteer to offer counseling and advice via chat lines to depressed Moodswing members. The volunteers would be tested and vetted in an effort to curate their quality. This “amateur therapy” offering would represent a new form of value exchange facilitated by Moodswing. It’s an intriguing concept, but one that raises some obvious questions—in particular the potential danger in having untrained and unlicensed counselors offering psychological guidance to people whose lives are at risk. As of mid-2014,

To address this issue, LinkedIn layered an additional interaction on top of its core interaction: It began allowing users to organize themselves into groups and start discussions. This second form of interaction didn’t achieve the popularity LinkedIn had hoped for either. Given the self-promotional behavior that a professional network encourages, the loudest users in the groups were often also the most obnoxious. So LinkedIn went on to add a further interaction, partly driven by the quest to monetize the platform: it allowed recruiters to use the site to target candidates, and advertisers to target ads to relevant professionals. Later still, LinkedIn created another interaction when it allowed thought leaders, and subsequently all users, to publish posts on LinkedIn for others to read, effectively turning the site into a publishing platform. This combination of many forms of interaction gives users more reasons to visit LinkedIn.

When you’re launching a new platform—or seeking to enhance and grow an existing platform—thoughtful attention to the principles of platform design will maximize your chances of value creation.24 But as we’ve seen, platforms cannot be entirely planned; they also emerge. Remember that one of the key characteristics that distinguishes a platform from a traditional business is that most of the activity is controlled by users, not by the owners or managers of the platform. It’s inevitable that participants will use the platform in ways you never anticipated or planned.

Twitter was never meant to have a discovery mechanism. It originated as simply a reverse-chronological stream of feeds. There was no way to seek out tweets on particular topics other than by scrolling through pages of unrelated and irrelevant content. Chris Messina, an engineer at Google, originally suggested the use of hashtags to annotate and discover similar tweets. Today, the hashtag has become a mainstay of Twitter.

It’s an idea that humans have been practicing for millennia. After all, what is the traditional open-air marketplace found in villages and cities from Africa to Europe if not a platform in which farmers and craftspeople sell their wares to local consumers? The same is true of the original stock markets that grew up in cities like London and New York, where buyers and sellers of company shares would gather in person to establish fair market prices through the open outcry auction system. The main difference between these traditional platform businesses and the modern platforms featured in this book is, of course, the addition of digital technology, which enormously expands a platform’s reach, speed, convenience, and efficiency.

Platforms, then, have economic advantages that enable them to grow faster than similar pipeline businesses. This phenomenon alone would lead to significant disruption of traditional industries, as platform businesses displace pipeline businesses at the top of the Fortune 500 rankings. But the era of platforms-eat-pipelines is disrupting businesses in many other ways as well. In particular, the rise of the world of platforms is reconfiguring the familiar business processes of value creation, value consumption, and quality control.8

We are hopping into strangers’ cars (Lyft, Sidecar, Uber), welcoming them into our spare rooms (Airbnb), dropping our dogs off at their houses (DogVacay, Rover), and eating food in their dining rooms (Feastly). We are letting them rent our cars (RelayRides, Getaround), our boats (Boatbound), our houses (HomeAway), and our power tools (Zilok). We are entrusting complete strangers with our most valuable possessions, our personal experiences—and our very lives. In the process, we are entering a new era of Internet-enabled intimacy.9

Consider McCormick Foods, a 126-year-old company that sells herbs, spices, and condiments. By 2010, the company’s traditional growth strategies had run their course. McCormick had already expanded into a full range of food seasonings and established a foothold up and down its supply chain, including operations in farming and food preparation. The company was running out of growth options. CIO Jerry Wolfe heard about Nike’s move into platform-building. Could McCormick do the same? Wolfe reached out to Barry Wacksman, a partner at R/GA, a leading New York design firm that had helped Nike design its platform. Together, they hit on the idea of using recipes and taste profiles to build a food-based platform. Wolfe and Wacksman used McCormick’s taste laboratories to distill three dozen flavor archetypes—such as minty, citrus, floral, garlicky, meaty—that can be used to describe almost any recipe. Based on personal preferences, the system can predict new recipes an individual is likely to savor. Members of the McCormick platform community can modify recipes and upload the new versions, creating ever-expanding flavor options and helping to identify new food trends, generating information that’s useful not only to the platform’s users but also to managers of grocery stores, food manufacturers, and restaurateurs.18

Unfortunately for Sony, this victory proved short-lived. Today, a few years after the triumph of Blu-ray, the migration of consumers away from DVD to streaming video is well under way, making Bluray’s dominance increasingly irrelevant. The lesson? If, like Sony, you choose to fight a standards battle in quest of proprietary control of a market, you’d better win it—and win it fast, before the next big thing supersedes the very technology you seek to dominate.

In 2012, Google Maps had become the premier provider of mapping services and location data for mobile phone users. It was a popular feature on Apple’s iPhone. However, with more consumer activity moving to mobile devices and becoming increasingly integrated with location data, Apple realized that Google Maps was becoming a significant threat to the long-term profitability of its mobile platform. There was a real possibility that Google could make its mapping technology into a separate platform, offering valuable customer connections and geographic data to merchants, and siphoning this potential revenue source away from Apple. Apple’s decision to create its own mapping app to compete with Google Maps made sound strategic sense—despite the fact that the initial service was so poorly designed that it caused Apple significant public embarrassment. The new app misclassified nurseries as airports and cities as hospitals, suggested driving routes that passed over open water (your car had better float!), and even stranded unwary travelers in an Australian desert a full seventy kilometers from the town they expected to find there. iPhone users erupted in howls of protest, the media had a field day lampooning Apple’s misstep, and CEO Tim Cook had to issue a public apology.19 Apple accepted the bad publicity, likely reasoning that it could quickly improve its mapping service to an acceptable quality level—and this is essentially what has happened. The iPhone platform is no longer dependent on Google for mapping technology, and Apple has control over the mapping application as a source of significant value.

However, reality teaches us that democracy—like free markets—can be messy, especially when intense passions and partisanship are involved. Hence the episode we recounted at the start of this chapter, in which the Wikipedia article about the death of Meredith Kercher was hijacked by “haters” of Amanda Knox who were determined to make sure the page should assert her guilt and were prepared to eradicate any signs of dissension. The Kercher killing is not the only instance in which Wikipedia is embroiled in controversy—far from it. An article on the platform headed “Wikipedia: List of controversial issues” lists over 800 topics that “are constantly being re-edited in a circular manner, or are otherwise the focus of edit warring or article sanctions.” Organized under headings that include “Politics and economics,” “History,” “Science, biology, and health,” “Philosophy,” and “Media and culture,” they include everything from “Anarchism,” “Genocide denial,” “Occupy Wall Street,” and “Apollo moon landing hoax accusations” to “Hare Krishna,” “Chiropractic,” “SeaWorld,” and “Disco music.

To avoid this result, the managers of startup platforms need to be strategic about identifying the external networks they can use to build their growth and finding creative, value-adding ways to connect with their users.

Not every budding platform has an opportunity to achieve viral growth. But if it does, it can help turn slow but steady expansion into the kind of skyrocket growth that makes a platform into a national or global phenomenon with the potential to dominate its market for years to come.

For both consumers and producers: Access to curation mechanisms that enhance the quality of interactions. Consumers value access to high-quality goods and services that address their specific needs and interests, while producers value access to consumers who want their offerings and are willing to pay a fair price for them. Well-run platforms build and maintain curation systems that connect the right consumers with the right producers quickly and easily.

WAYS TO MONETIZE (3): CHARGING FOR ENHANCED ACCESS Sometimes a platform that facilitates a monetary transaction may be unable to own, and hence to monetize, the transaction. Such platforms may instead charge producers for enhanced access to consumers. This refers to the provision of tools that enable a producer to stand out above the crowd and be noticed on a two-sided platform, despite an abundance of rival producers and the resulting intense competition to attract consumer attention. Platforms that charge producers fees for better targeted messages, more attractive presentations, or interactions with particularly valuable users are using enhanced access as a monetization technique. The system of monetizing enhanced access generally doesn’t harm network effects, since all producers and consumers are permitted to participate in the platform on an open, non-enhanced basis. But those for whom the additional value of enhanced access is particularly great can pay for that extra value—allowing a portion of that value to be captured by the platform business.

Creating value for users while asking nothing in return is often a great way to attract members and encourage participation. “Users first, monetization later,” as the slogan goes. Or, in a variant that we heard from the executive in charge of platform strategy for Haier Group, a Chinese manufacturing company, “You never take first money.” In other words, only after a value unit has been created and exchanged with results that are satisfactory to both the producer and the consumer should the platform business itself seek to capture a share of that value.

What fraction of the value creation unleashed by the platform is occurring on the platform rather than outside it?

A platform may also choose to innovate when features provided by third parties become a large part of the overall value enjoyed by users. As we saw in chapter 7, this helps to explain Apple’s 2012 introduction of Apple Maps in response to the enormous popularity of Google Maps.

sales conversion rate, which can be expressed as the percentage of searches that lead to interactions.

matching quality, and trust

the rate at which producers join the platform and the growth of this rate over time. Dating

The three key factors of liquidity, matching quality, and trust remain crucial to measuring the health of virtually any kind of newly launched platform.

However, as growth continues, the platform must monitor the change in size of the user base over time. In particular, platform managers will want to work to ensure balance on the two sides of its market.

lifetime value (LTV) models

signal-to-noise ratio,

The issue is to embed into the platform multiple independent solutions to the same problem. Then this becomes common for everyone else. It’s a question of timing. If you do it right away, your ecosystem is scared that you’ll cannibalize their cash cows. If one provider builds a particular functionality, you don’t want to co-opt it. But if a whole slew of them have [developed the same capability], then competition reduces benefits anyway, and you can fold it in.

To enable this strategy, Cisco employs metrics that seek out instances in which the same capability is provided across multiple industry verticals—health care or the automotive business, for example. That is a sign that the platform is missing important features that should be part of the next round of continuous platform innovation.

Also, avoid reducing access to value that users have become accustomed to receiving.

Instead, when transitioning from free to fee, strive to create new, additional value that justifies the charge. Of

Yelp, for example, offers restaurants enhanced visibility and better branding on its platform by charging for a premium listing in search results.

Charging most users full price while subsidizing stars.

A better approach to analyzing the monetization challenge is to ask these questions: How can we generate revenues without reducing our positive network effects? Can we devise a pricing strategy that strengthens our positive network effects while reducing our negative network effects? Can we create a strategy that encourages desirable interactions and discourages undesirable ones?

collecting a lead generation fee from the restaurants.

YouTube gained traction among producers, the focus of the platform moved from improving video hosting infrastructure (as a value proposition to producers) to improving matchmaking of videos with consumers (focusing on video search, and a video feed).

ShopThis!,

Embrace Efficiency, Elevate Flavor: Smart Kitchen Tools for Culinary Adventurers The kitchen, once a realm of necessity, has morphed into a playground of possibility. Gone are the days of clunky appliances and tedious prep work. Enter the age of the smart kitchen tool, a revolution that whispers efficiency and shouts culinary liberation. For the modern gastronome, these tech-infused gadgets are not mere conveniences, but allies in crafting delectable adventures, freeing us to savor the journey as much as the destination. Imagine mornings when your smart coffee maker greets you with the perfect brew, prepped by the whispers of your phone while you dream. Your fridge, stocked like a digital oracle, suggests recipes based on its ever-evolving inventory, and even automatically orders groceries you've run low on. The multi-cooker, your multitasking superhero, whips up a gourmet chili while you conquer emails, and by dinnertime, your smart oven roasts a succulent chicken to golden perfection, its progress monitored remotely as you sip a glass of wine. But efficiency is merely the prologue. Smart kitchen tools unlock a pandora's box of culinary precision. Smart scales, meticulous to the milligram, banish recipe guesswork and ensure perfect balance in every dish. Food processors and blenders, armed with pre-programmed settings and self-cleaning prowess, transform tedious chopping into a mere blip on the culinary radar. And for the aspiring chef, a sous vide machine becomes a magic wand, coaxing impossible tenderness from the toughest cuts of meat. Yet, technology alone is not the recipe for culinary bliss. For those who yearn to paint with flavors, smart kitchen tools are the brushes on their canvas. A connected recipe platform becomes your digital sous chef, guiding you through each step with expert instructions and voice-activated ease. Spice racks, infused with artificial intelligence, suggest unexpected pairings, urging you to venture beyond the familiar. And for the ultimate expression of your inner master chef, a custom knife, forged from heirloom steel and lovingly honed, becomes an extension of your hand, slicing through ingredients with laser focus and lyrical grace. But amidst the symphony of gadgets and apps, let us not forget the heart of the kitchen: the human touch. Smart tools are not meant to replace our intuition but to augment it. They free us from the drudgery, allowing us to focus on the artistry, the love, the joy of creation. Imagine kneading dough, the rhythm of your hands mirroring the gentle whirring of a smart bread machine, then shaping a loaf that holds the warmth of both technology and your own spirit. Or picture yourself plating a dish, using smart portion scales for precision but garnishing with edible flowers chosen simply because they spark joy. This, my friends, is the symphony of the smart kitchen: a harmonious blend of tech and humanity, where efficiency becomes the brushstroke that illuminates the vibrant canvas of culinary passion. Of course, every adventure, even one fueled by smart tools, has its caveats. Interoperability between gadgets can be a tangled web, and data privacy concerns linger like unwanted guests. But these challenges are mere bumps on the culinary road, hurdles to be overcome by informed choices and responsible data management. After all, we wouldn't embark on a mountain trek without checking the weather, would we? So, embrace the smart kitchen, dear foodies! Let technology be your sous chef, your precision tool, your culinary muse. But never forget the magic of your own hands, the wisdom of your palate, and the joy of a meal shared with loved ones. For in the end, it's not about the gadgets, but the memories we create around them, the stories whispered over simmering pots, and the laughter echoing through a kitchen filled with the aroma of possibility.

Metaverse is a social virtual reality platform powered by blockchain. It is based on the premise of decentralizing all human digital data so that each person can own and create their virtual world to live in while interacting with others. Metaverse ETP is a token used to engage in this virtual world and the real world.

The Metaverse doesn’t exist yet, but some platforms contain elements that come very close to this concept. Video games currently offer the closest Metaverse experience to this idea. Developers have pushed their limits concerning what a game can be by organizing in-game events and creating virtual economies within them.

What Is Metaverse’s Mission? Metaverse’s blockchain-based virtual reality platform seeks to revolutionize the gaming industry by allowing players the ability to create and develop their projects, guilds, and games. The platform utilizes blockchain technology to connect gamers and create new virtual realities. It also allows gamers to participate in these games with other players globally.

Consider that, since 2005, the online platform Kiva has already been crowdfunding micro loans to entrepreneurs in many developing countries around the world. By early 2021, it had arranged about $1.5 billion in loans from nearly two million lenders (who can put up as little as $25) to about four million borrowers in seventy-seven countries. The total value of loans is small, but Kiva’s screening and monitoring technologies are not automated and seem antiquated compared with those of newer Fintech lending platforms, which have far greater potential for such matching of borrowers and lenders.

successful platforms begin with a single core interaction that consistently generates high value for users.

Platforms must perform three key functions in order to encourage a high volume of valuable core interactions, which we summarize as pull, facilitate, and match.

This revolution would transform the nation from a parochial theocracy, in which governors still declared statewide “Fast Days” for religious observance and towns taxed their citizens to support a parish minister, to a modern, secular democracy, in which the lecture platform replaced the pulpit as the source of wisdom and revelation.

We are hopping into strangers’ cars (Lyft, Sidecar, Uber), welcoming them into our spare rooms (Airbnb), dropping our dogs off at their houses (DogVacay, Rover), and eating food in their dining rooms (Feastly). We are letting them rent our cars (RelayRides, Getaround), our boats (Boatbound), our houses (HomeAway), and our power tools (Zilok). We are entrusting complete strangers with our most valuable possessions, our personal experiences—and our very lives. In the process, we are entering a new era of Internet-enabled intimacy. ~ Jason Tanz Not so long ago, activities like these would have been viewed as weird, if not downright dangerous. Today, they are familiar to millions, thanks to the trust-building mechanisms established by platform businesses.

Preamble The Klassik Era was a cultural and musical revolution that swept through Kenya and East Africa in the early 2010s. It was a time of bold experimentation, fearless expression, and unapologetic individuality that challenged the norms of mainstream music and culture. For the first time, young people from the ghettos and slums of Nairobi, Mombasa, and Kisumu could see themselves represented and celebrated in the music and arts scene, and their voices and stories were given a platform like never before. The Klassik Era was characterized by a fusion of different musical genres and styles, from hip-hop and reggae to dancehall and afro-pop, to create a sound that was uniquely Kenyan and African. It was a time when young artists and producers like Blame It On Don (DON SANTO), Kingpheezle, Jilly Beatz, Tonnie Tosh, Kenny Rush, and many others came together under Klassik Nation, a record label that would change the face of Kenyan music forever. The Klassik Era was also marked by a sense of community and camaraderie, with young people from all walks of life coming together to support each other's art and creativity. It was a time when collaborations and features were the norm, and when artists and producers worked together to create something new and exciting. But the Klassik Era was not without its challenges and controversies. It was a time when the Kenyan music industry was dominated by a few powerful players who controlled the airwaves and the mainstream narrative, and who were resistant to change and innovation. It was a time when artists and producers had to fight tooth and nail to get their music played on the radio and to gain recognition and respect from their peers. Despite these challenges, the Klassik Era left an indelible mark on the Kenyan music industry and on the cultural landscape of Africa. It was a time of creativity, passion, and rebellion that inspired a generation of young people to dream big and to believe that anything was possible. This book is a tribute to that era and to the artists and producers who made it all possible.

A revolution for the poor. To save us all … for a cold death on a train platform.

The history of irregular media operations is complex and fractured; generalizations are difficult. Yet it is possible to isolate three large and overlapping historical phases: First, throughout the nineteenth century, irregular forces saw the state's telecommunications facilities as a target that could be physically attacked to weaken the armies and the authority of states and empires. Second, for most of the twentieth century after the world wars, irregulars slowly but successfully began using the mass media as a weapon. Telecommunications, and more specifically the press, were used to attack the moral support and cohesion of opposing political entities. Then, in the early part of the twenty-first century, a third phases began: irregular movements started using commoditized information technologies as an extended operating platform. The form and trajectory of the overarching information revolution, from the Industrial Revolution until today, historically benefited the nation-state and increased the power of regular armies. But this trend was reversed in the year 2000 when the New Economy's Dot-com bubble burst, an event that changed the face of the Web. What came thereafter, a second generation Internet, or "Web 2.0," does not favor the state, large firms, and big armies any more; instead the new Web, in an abstract but highly relevant way, resembles - and inadvertently mimics - the principles of subversion and irregular war. The unintended consequence for armed conflicts is that non-state insurgents benefit far more from the new media than do governments and counterinsurgents, a trend that is set to continue in the future.

And while platform businesses themselves are often extraordinarily profitable, the chief locus of wealth creation is now outside rather than inside the organization.

Thus, every platform business must be designed to facilitate the exchange of information.

Yet, in most cases, platforms don’t create value units; instead, they are created by the producers who participate in the platform. Thus, platforms are “information factories” that have no control over inventory.

Facebook’s news feed is a classic multiuser feedback loop. Status updates from producers are served to consumers, whose likes and comments serve as feedback to the producers. The constant flow of value units stimulates still more activity, making the platform increasingly valuable to all participants.

Later still, LinkedIn created another interaction when it allowed thought leaders, and subsequently all users, to publish posts on LinkedIn for others to read, effectively turning the site into a publishing platform.

The supernova is enabling a deeper revolution that is just beginning, spurred by learning platforms such as Udacity, edX, and Coursera, that will change the very metabolism and shape of higher education and, one hopes, lift the adaptability line in the way that

1.  Staging value creation. The platform managers arrange for the creation of value units that will attract one or more sets of users and demonstrate the potential benefits of participating in the platform.5 Those initial users create more value units, attract still other users, and set up a positive feedback loop that leads to continuing growth.6 The Huffington Post followed this strategy by hiring writers to create an initial array of high-quality blog posts for the site, thereby attracting readers. Some of these readers began contributing blog posts of their own, leading to the gradual development of a wider network of content creators and attracting even more readers.

Author Steve Denning has highlighted the weakness of Porter’s assumption that the purpose of strategy is to avoid competition. Denning pointed instead to management guru Peter Drucker’s dictum that the purpose of business is “to create a customer.

The shift from protecting value inside the firm to creating value outside the firm means that the crucial factor is no longer ownership but opportunity, while the chief tool is no longer dictation but persuasion.

Platform competition requires treating buyers and suppliers not as separate threats to be subjugated but as value-creating partners to be wooed, celebrated, and encouraged to play multiple roles.

Most consumers appear to be willing to trade access to detailed data about their spending behavior for easy access to credit. But many may not fully appreciate the fact that the same dynamics that power the credit agencies underlie the services provided by “free” information service businesses—the data aggregators we described in chapter 7. If

As CEO Zhang pointed out to us, the size of a company’s advertising budget might be viewed as a reflection of the distance between the company and its customers. For example, the annual brand value report issued in 2013 by the consulting firm Interbrand noted that Google’s advertising budget is just a tiny fraction of Coca-Cola’s. The likely reason: Google is deeply integrated into people’s lives through its many productivity and social applications, giving it constant user feedback that Coca-Cola doesn’t receive.