Why Twitter Is A Ponzi Scheme
by FreshNetworks on Apr 25, 2009
- 7,488 views
Twitter is cool. And Twitter imparts its coolness onto you. If you join. But can it go on forever? ...
Twitter is cool. And Twitter imparts its coolness onto you. If you join. But can it go on forever?
This presentation is a mashup of 'Ponzi Scheme' by Ralhpmon and ideas from around the web - Jaffe Juice, Alan Wolk et al.
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Indus Khaitan
Sure it's a square peg in a round hole. Absolutely it's not pure Ponzi. The presentation was tongue-in-cheek after all ('follow me on twitter' on the last page was supposed to give that away)
I was looking for another way of puting 'emperor's new clothes'. The definition of a Ponzi scheme used here comes from a ppt shown in court to help educate jurors. In fact my slideshare is an exact replication of that ppt with minor text changes to make the point.
Either way, I do stand-by the premise of Ponzi (or perhaps Pyramid Scheme as a good alternative analogy) as a neat way of explaining some of what makes the marketing of social sites work - in particular during the early-adopter phase.
Charlie 3 years ago Reply
Would Facebook, MySpace and market listed companies like Google and Apple qualify as Ponzi schemes too? 3 years ago Reply
I take it you must think every social networking site is a Ponzi scheme. 3 years ago Reply
1. The users' ability to be social attraction is the same throughout the population.
It isn't so obvious, since there are entities able to devote significant resources and quickly gain the social capital even after joining late. Put it short. The newly born isn't in social disadvantage if she has powerful parents.
2. There is no money in the business.
Given the business model is to sell to the buzz-word oriented crowd the services they like in the format they prefer, the late joiners will profit from those business service offers (not from each other) if the model succeeds and if the service has a critical mass of users. Put it short. If the crowd is big enough, the party-goers could suddenly have to benefit the transformation of the place into a mall. In this case the twitter is a fraud. 3 years ago Reply