Platforms as Superpowers?

In this month’s Vanity Fair author Michael Wolff writes about the “Internet’s next big thing” in “Ringside at the Web Fight.” While he admits there has been little innovation online in the past few years, he believes that this year will be a radical inflection point and offers many possible changes we could see online. The first, and in my opinion, most interesting idea, is that the internet is moving towards a world of platforms. Wolff suggests that having a platform can make you a superpower and that “a platform is now a more metaphorical construct, suggesting not just functionality but a framework of behavior, and even a point of view, that habituates users and fosters their dependence, with an eye toward subsuming the rest of the digital world. Like Google.” Or Facebook or the iPhone. . .

I think this theory of platforms is extremely convincing. There is so much information online that it can be overwhelming that it’s often difficult for consumers to navigate effectively. If companies can create user friendly, informative, fun platforms that meet user needs I believe it will change the way users behave online and many smaller websites will have to rethink their online approach and find ways to partner with platforms in order to operate effectively.

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2010/03/wolff-201003?currentPage=1