Buzzfeednews. Reverse Network Effects: Why Today’s Social Networks Can Fail As They Grow Larger. Network effects are the holy grail for Internet startups looking for venture-scale returns.
On a platform with network effects, the value to a user increases as more users use it. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Skype, WhatsApp and many others benefit from this dynamic. In an age when more than a billion people connect over a network and new networks reach multi-billion dollar valuations with a handful of employees, one is tempted to believe that online networks are almost fail-proof.
But as online networks grow to a size never seen before, many question their sustainability and believe that they are becoming too large to be useful. To explore the future of online networks, it’s important to note how network effects correlate with value and the factors that make these network effects work in reverse. The Internet in Real-Time. Twitter + GNIP. Facebook posts are seen by THREE TIMES as many people as users realize - but they're just not getting any response.
Researchers at Stanford University found that people drastically underestimate how many people are looking at their updatesWhile Facebook tells its advertisers how many views their content is getting they don't offer this service to everyoneResearchers believe that people would post less if they realized just how little response they were getting By Daily Mail Reporter Published: 16:49 GMT, 12 July 2013 | Updated: 18:25 GMT, 12 July 2013 Your Facebook posts are typically seen by three times as many people as you think they are, claims a new study.
Researchers at Stanford University found that users of the social media platform drastically underestimate the number of people looking at their content based on factors including how often their friends post, plus how many likes, comments and shares they receive.