The Economy Around You — Why some products win and winners keep winning.
A network effect means a product becomes more valuable as more people use it, like a messaging app or a marketplace.
This can lead to a few dominant players, since users flock to the biggest networks, making it hard for newcomers to compete.
Switching costs: The effort or loss involved in leaving one product for another, like lost data or learning a new system, which keeps users in place.
Strong network effects can reduce competition, letting a dominant platform raise prices or cut quality, a downside for consumers.
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