When Platforms Usurp Your Power

Most people stand quietly by when the platforms they use change the game or restrict how they use the platforms.  Don’t these platform administrators get it? Do you understand that you are losing your power when they make unilateral changes which restrict your abilities? We are the consumers, we are the swarms, we determine which survive and which do not, and we determine if their death or growth is slow or rapid. It seems to me that some platform management do not understand that simple fact. Therefore, those respective platforms may not survive long term or continue to grow.

We, the users of social networks, are restricted in so many ways on different platforms, and we simply acquiesce:

• We are limited in the number of invitations we can send–either in total or at one time.
• We are limited in the number of connections we can have.
• We are limited in the number of groups in which we can participate.
• We are limited in the number of messages we can send.
• We are limited in what we are permitted to post on the site.
• We are limited in the number of people we can follow.
• We are limited in whether we can publish our email publicly if we want to do so.
• We are limited in the number of people we can sync with contact information.
• We are limited in whether we can post a video that is not our personal video but from another source, even if we document the source.
• We are limited in the manner in which we can invite, decline, or respond to individuals.
• We are limited in the format of our email address.
• We are limited in the image we choose to use for ourselves.
• We are limited…

Why do we accept these restrictions? Are we waiting for those with more courage to stand up and take the gauntlet? Do we assume that new platforms will emerge?

I know of only one platform which holds none of these restrictions. I suspect that as it becomes better known, it will emerge as one of the recommended front runners. We administer many networks on that platform and as we need enhancements, we find a receptive provider.

In the interim, what do we do with the platforms which have hundreds of thousands or millions of subscribers to which we have become dependent? It seems that we continue to participate until they quietly go away and receptive social media platforms develop according to consumer input. Aren’t you buzzing about – trying the latest recommended social network platforms while discouraged by the lack to attention to you –the user– by the others?

What is your buzz about?