Companies like Facebook and Twitter combined some existing techniques and technologies to provide social media services. They really didn't make anything new at all. The data centers where posts and photos pile-up and where the companies do data mining are just piles of hardware and software that's been developing for decades. In an older post, I thought a good analogy for these tech companies was the railroads, but I think a better analogy is candy companies.
Facebook and twitter just came up with recipes that people liked for a while. The barrier to entry to startup or replace companies like twitter and facebook is really low already, and gets lower every day. The injection of politics into their business is a really bad idea. As they alienate significant portions of their users, the vaunted "network effects" that supposedly make them valuable start to work against them. It's very easy for people to jump to new services. It's easier than buying a different candy bar than a Hershy's.
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