When Facebook and Twitter were pitched to VCs, a key value proposition was that these corporations owned the network effect.
Owning the network effect, meant owning personal data of every person who used the social network -- and then leveraging that data into other revenue streams.
For awhile it worked.
We were happy to give up our privacy and personal data in exchange for access to social media.
Over the past 5 years, three things have wrecked the previous social media model:
1. Social media is becoming more transient and generational.
2. Government are becoming more forthright about regulation
3. Entities with *more* capital (Apple, Elon Musk) are willing to throw a monkey wrench in their revenue streams
In other words, Big Social cannot be assumed to be here forever.