This is week has sparked the conversation of whether or not the “Gang of Four” are monopolies, or perhaps, a singular monopoly that works in tandem with one another. This also brings up the question of whether or not these companies are to be trusted at all. We all blindly use them of course, but will it ultimately be something that we regret down the road?

The “Age of Platforms” reading seeks to define and separate the Gang of Four from monopolies by comparing them to the Robber Barons. The definition of a monopoly is “exclusive ownership through legal privilege, command of supply, or concerted action”. This is done by control of the market (horizontal integration) or control of production (vertical integration). The Robber Barons, such as John D. Rockefeller, were the first men to exploit these critical aspects of the economy, and use vicious and persistent methods of maintaining control by choking out the competition. Is the Gang of Four the Robber Barons reborn?

The reading says no, that Platforms promote collaboration, provide variety, and don’t force the customer to use them. But I see some issues with this analysis. We need to address conformity. When people look to use social media, the first place to look is Facebook. Sure there are other options, like MySpace, Twitter and Linked-In, but none have even close to as many users as Facebook (Facebook has 900,000,000 users, compared to second most popular, Twitter, with 310,000,000). More or less you feel obligated to use Facebook. You use social media in order to maintain contact with your friends. So what’s the point of using MySpace if all your friends are on Facebook? It defeats the purpose.

This is not so much an issue with Apple products, as the Android is a serious competitor, both being equally used by the populace. But once again, we see an extraordinarily limited set of options. People want what other people have, iPhones and Androids are what is in right now. Most customers will only be satisfied with one of those two. And who owns them? Apple and Google, two of the Gang of Four. And this is because Facebook and Amazon don’t have a vested interest in phones quite yet, and Apple and Google products are commonly the items used to access their material.

If you want to buy something online, it is almost always going to be through Amazon. The reading tries to defend against this by saying that anyone can start an online store to sell their product, but how long is it before Amazon seeks to add them to their warehouse. The only case in which a vendor will really maintain their wares through their site is highly original work which can’t be mass produced. Art, more or less. My mother makes furniture out of bittersweet vines that she sells through her website. Amazon will never approach her (besides the fact that her business is very small) because her works are very individual, and frankly are of no interest for Amazon due to its methods.

I say the Gang of Four do have a sort of monopoly on their said markets, for two reasons. One is the fact that they have created the conformist mindset. People gravitate towards these companies due to the immense popularity of social media, online shopping, product allegiance, and the Internet in general, because these companies dominate the four corners of the online world. People get Apple products to search for items on Google that they heard about on Facebook that they ultimately buy through Amazon. In this way, they are almost one singular monopoly that pinballs internet users through their platforms while picking their wallets and their time.

Secondly, these companies definitely lobby and buy out smaller options that they see as viable planks to continue each of their network effects. This may not be as cutthroat as the Robber Barons, who were the single controllers of their products/markets, but the world is a much bigger and more advanced place today than it was back then. Facebook and Google have probably taken out far more companies than the Robber Barons ever did, because there are countless more companies being started up today compared to back then. Overall, I say the Robber Barons is a dated comparison to be using against the Gang of Four. The times are completely different, but just like the Robber Barons, the Gang of Four is staying on top.