[xg15]

I don't agree with this being an "oft-overlooked" method - this seems to be the no. 1 strategy every tech startup is trying to do these days.

Which is why I now need an account to play games or work with photoshop, why we have "smart" light-switches that need to talk to their platform to turn on the light half a meter away and why there are half a dozen isolated messenger services instead of a single federated protocol (not even starting with "smart home" systems).

However the article is a good summary of all the reasons that will cause companies to pursue network effects and the signs you can watch out for to spot them.

[sharemywin]

I think most of these companies are missing the exponential increase in value for users. And most seem to bundle a lot of other crap with their network effected product which probably dilutes its value even more.

[askins4trouble]

Completely agree with this!

And I think a lot of people look at network effects right now primarily as a growth lever, but wouldn't think to use them (when they're working) as an argument with investors that their product is defensible.