[intended]

I still remember conversations here on HN, around the time Facebook was launched. It was considered insanity that you would give up your privacy to a firm.

I remember how that what seemed absurdly risky, meant absolutely nothing to the average person, and the astronomic value Facebook began to accumulate.

I wonder if it wasn't social media that set up the death spiral of the internet. The walled gardens on content and then the ad revenue created incentives to increase engagement, while capturing the value which would have gone to the open internet.

In that light, it seems AI firms are going to complete what Social Media started. Sequestering the remaining value of information and content, and then earning rents on it.

[frankharv]

I didn't see it that way. when Facebook started it was like an intimate club.

Classmates.com was charging money for reunion information and Facebook was free.

It was the IPO that really tipped the scales.

In that one day Zuck became a Billionaire with everybody else's information.

We were bamboozled. Subscription versus free but not really.