[allenz]

Instant gratification exacerbates the network effect, but it's not the root problem. A decentralized social network could provide the same upvotes and be just as addictive.

I think the root problem is economic. There's no profit to be made in a perfectly competitive market, so companies that build barriers to entry such as closed networks and refined proprietary software have the resources to outcompete companies that don't. Slack can hire a lot more engineers than mIRC.