

I Guess The Twitter Doesn't Fall Far From The Twit - Ashuu
http://b0ing.me/i-guess-the-twitter-doesnt-fall-far-from-the-twit/

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tehwalrus
> _" An appealing-enough decentralized alternative will eventually present
> itself"_

No. The network effect makes this pretty much impossible.

Unless facebook does something truly egregious, above what it already does
with privacy settings every few months, a critical mass will never be
somewhere else long enough for all and sundry to move on.

I reckon one way that this might realistically happen is if there's a product
which replaces facebook by doing something genuinely different, while
fulfilling the same functions. I don't know what "genuinely different" might
mean in this context though (if I did, I'd be writing it!).

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b0ing
I've read this exact same thing over and over and over again, which leads me
to believe that it's not true. The genuinely different bit for me, by the way,
probably won't be its decentralized nature that makes it appealing. It will be
appealing, and someone who cares enough will make it decentralized.

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tehwalrus
You don't believe in the network effect because too many people have heard of
it? that's not how science works.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_effect](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_effect)

(if you're talking about something else, phew, could you clarify which bit?)

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b0ing
Sorry, what I meant was that I don't believe in the network effect like I
don't believe in [the eternal "rightness" of] Communism, not like I don't
believe in Santa Claus.

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tehwalrus
!!

Ok, then I don't think we'll agree. about the nature of evidence, or this.

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jessedhillon
He's saying that he thinks people who employ the network effect as an argument
for the unshakeableness of Facebook are probably appealing to dogma, because
there cannot be _that many_ people who deeply understand the dynamics of
networked behavior. And I tend to agree -- the network effect is often offered
as undeniable proof of a near-eternal reign from Menlo Park. I don't think
that's what it means to have network or lock-in effects in your product.

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prattbhatt
Its part of the continuous cycle of creation and destruction.

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badman_ting
People who don't use twitter find the "twitter/twit" thing irresistible, it
seems.

