We have discussed platforms over and over again. They’re great, right? Eh, well that’s up for debate. A platform is only as successful as it’s relations with it’s customers. Amazon, for example, is ~*~awesome!~*~ I love my Prime account, I love watching Suits and other shows as soon as it’s available, I love one-day shipping, and the other little perks of being a Prime member! But if Amazon didn’t take care of me, there’s no way I would keep it around. And that’s what Bezos is going for here – “his platforms mean very little without customers and users.”

But aside from all of it’s perks and it’s incredibly easy user-interface, there are a lot of risks and downsides to such a platform like Amazon:

• Click Fraud, for one, is “an attempt by a third party to run up a company’s online advertising expenses.” Automated programs click ads as if they were actual users, and make advertising networks boatloads of money.
• Illegal Advertising has become a huge issue with companies like Google, who turn a blind-eye to ads on their platform for things not in the regular market (i.e. illegal prescription drugs/pharmacies)

Though they may not seem like huge threats for users like me, scams like this threaten to destroy the platforms we’ve come to know and love. And Amazon isn’t the only one in danger! There are the “Big Four” – Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google – as well as smaller online conglomerates such as Craigslist and Ebay and Etsy who face similar problems. There is a lot of risk associated with creating successful platforms. The bigger these sites get, more and more attempts to take it down emerge.

“In the Age of the Platform, ascension almost always means at least a modicum of controversy — and that invites web-savvy and nosy trolls, critics, skeptics, and other naysayers.”

What about government regulation on these platforms?
Well, because there are SO many attempts to exploit these big companies, the government must pick and choose its battles to investigate and allocate funds toward. The general rule of thumb for government has been to keep its eye on the #BIG4. For example, antitrust investigations from the FTC review the popular platforms.

The “Gang of Four” have become monopolies in the industry, and as the “Perils of Platforms” reading suggested, they are the robber barons of modern society. Move over Rockerfellers, Zuckerberg’s in town. What’s that Carnegie? I can’t hear you over JOBS. These companies have questionable tactics and a “ask for forgiveness first, permission second” mentality when it comes to business practice.

“Building and maintaining a platform means being willing to move quickly and decisively, even at the risk of angering existing different powers-that-be, customers, and users.”