@constancies @nachtfunke
My problem is #SwitchingCosts. Not money but time and effort.
Long ago I used iTunes but had my local collection destroyed (twice!) by something they called iTunes Music Match. So --> Spotify.
When I started hobby coding I wanted a project in line with my interests, eg, music. The Spotify API was free and understandable by a noob. Apple makes you pay to even see the API. Tidal has no public free API. Deezer did but now it doesn't. (All last I checked; while ago)
1/?
Now that Twitter is a Junkyard, I Need a Way to Deal with the Twitter Posts Cited on this Blog
“Live, ongoing connections to people – not your old posts or your identifiers – impose the highest switching costs for any social media service,” argues Cory Doctorow in a recent post. Well, yeah, but hear me out.
#collapse #enshittification #financialization #hyperfinancialization #mutualAid #socialCollapse #socialMedia #switchingCosts #Wordpress
“Live, ongoing connections to people – not your old posts or your identifiers – impose the highest switching costs for any social media service,” argues Cory Doctorow in a recent post. Well, yeah, …
"The CFPB economists used a very conservative methodology, so the number is likely higher, but let's stick with that figure for now. The switching costs of changing banks – determining which bank has the best deal for you, then transfering over your account histories, cards, payees, and automated bill payments – are costing everyday Americans more than half a billion dollars, every year.
Now, the CFPB wasn't gathering this data just to make you mad. They wanted to do something about all this money – to find a way to lower switching costs, and, in so doing, transfer all that money from bank shareholders and executives to the American public.
And that's just what they did. A newly finalized Personal Financial Data Rights rule will allow you to authorize third parties – other banks, comparison shopping sites, brokers, anyone who offers you a better deal, or help you find one – to request your account data from your bank. Your bank will be required to provide that data.
I loved this rule when they first proposed it:"
https://pluralistic.net/2024/11/01/bankshot/#personal-financial-data-rights
#SwitchingCosts #USA #Banking #Banks #FinancialData #Interoperability #OpenData
This doesn't explain why that #ProprietaryPlatform (#Discord, #Slack, MS Teams, etc.) were initially chosen for that specific group of people. The person who made that decision did it for other reasons.
But it does explain what you asked: Why is this so popular, i.e. why are *so many* people continuing to use it?
#NetworkEffect and #SwitchingCosts. Nothing much to do with the properties of that particular platform.
#ProtocolsNotPlatforms avoids those problems.
#SwitchingCosts: One people are on #Discord or #Slack or whatever, they've got their group meeting there, often primarily and by default.
It's a #ProprietaryPlatform, so they're hostage. Leaving would require abandoning *that group* of people. For many people, they really need or want to stay in that social group.
And that means they must stay on the platform with the proprietary bloated surveillance client.
And, worse, bring new people in and hold *them* hostage too.