Vox:  Why every website you used to love is getting worse

Facebook is the poster child for enshittification.  At first, it was a big improvement over MySpace.  Everyone signed up for, it was great for a while, then Facebook made changes to make more money, until is sucked.  Everyone was on Facebook, so nobody wanted to leave. 

Cory Doctorow has been talking about this for years.  To sum it up:

  • First, a platform is great for end users.
  • Then the platform finds ways to lock in users, like network effects or order history.
  • When users are locked in, the platform makes changes to generate more money.
  • The platform makes more changes to lock businesses in.
  • Now the platform is crap, but it’s difficult to leave.

It’s a solid argument, but there is more going on and it’s not just websites.

A website, service, innovation or product has to be much more effective, fun, entertaining or attractive to get people to switch.  All of the incentives serve the customer or end user.

Once the new thing takes off, momentum or inertia will take care of marketing the product to the customer.  To increase revenue, the business markets the customers to other businesses.  The incentives aren’t with the customer anymore.

Another way to increase revenue, is to increase the customer base.  This may be great if new services are added, like Facebook Marketplace.  It can be bad if increasing the customer base means the dummification of a platform.  Reducing complexity means more people can use a service, but it is also less flexible and more simplistic.

Once the new thing grows, important people start to notice that there is power they may be able to exploit.  That’s why the Biden administration used social media companies to censor the free speech of American citizens. 

People  are lazy.  I remain an Amazon Prime member because Amazon retains my purchase history.  I frequently buy from Amazon, but rarely need an item quickly and don’t watch anything on Prime.  If I wasn’t a member, my purchase history might remain and free shipping might come if I bundle my purchases.  I don’t know, and am too lazy to check.

It takes effort to change.  A customer needs to search for an alternative and adapt to the new product or service.  The alternative will probably go to shit eventually.    It gets tedious.

It’s funny that in the time it took to write this post, I could have researched my questions about Amazon Prime and possibly saved myself the annual subscription.  I don’t even know what it’s costing me each year.  I should be better at this.