"Facebook is a government. Facebook's users are citizens,
and Facebook's applications developers are the private
companies that drive much of the economy. Apple. Twitter,
Myspace, Craigslist, Foursquare, Tumblr and every other
large network of engaged users (including some services of
Google) plays a similar role. We have always tacitly
acknowledged this. We talk about these networks as
communities, communities have governments."
"Once you start thinking about large web platforms as
governments, the logical question is what kind of government
are they. One thing is for sure - none of these platforms
are democracies. They are oligarchies controlled by
founders, investors or shareholders. That may not be at all
bad. As long as citizens (users) can move freely from one
government to another with little switching cost, there is
no reason to burden these polities with the inherent
inefficiencies of popular democracy. But that does put a
special premium on emigration policies and property rights.
Do I own my data, can I export it freely? It also suggests
that large networks that have strong network effects may
someday need other incentives to act in the best interests
of their citizens."
