The death of an internet company in three acts from American public media, this is Marketplace

Tech.

I'm Megan McCarty-Carrino.

Many of the biggest tech platforms from Amazon to Facebook follow a pattern of transformation

according to a recent essay from the author and internet intellectual Corey Docturo.

First he says these platforms court users with artificially low prices on products or an

exciting way to connect with friends, then they hook sellers like advertisers or third party

retailers with promises of reaching a captive audience.

Finally, Docturo says as companies try to maximize profits, they end up ruining the experience

for everyone on these platforms.

A process he describes with a four letter word, we can't say on the radio.

As business customers flock into the platform, the number of places you can buy things off

platforms start to dwindle.

Media companies start to become Facebook first or YouTube first, sellers shut down their

brick and mortar marketplaces in favor of Amazon or their force out of business.

And once those business customers are locked in as well, once there's nowhere else for

them to go because users are habituated to getting their content or their hard goods

or their services in a platform, then the platform owners can start harvesting the surplus

for themselves.

While people seem to complain about them nonstop, I think it's probably hard to argue that

they're dead, people are still using them.

These firms are seeing Exodus to smaller platforms where we've had, you know, it's still

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