Metcalfe's law applied to social networks
Metcalfe's law applied to social networks
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Description
Metcalfe's law states that the value of a (telecommunications) network is proportional to the square of the number of connected users of the system (n2) [1]. Metcalfe's law has also been said to appy to (social) networking websites. This presents interesting prospects for sites such as Wikipedia, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. with growing numbers of users each year. For instance, the number of facebook users grew by a factor of more than 10 between 2007 (40 million users) and 2009 (250 million users). The value of facebook
Enablers
Inhibitors
1. ToDo
Paradigms
What we see happening now: Microsoft buys Facebook, Google wants to muscle in on Facebook...
Timing
2007: Microsoft acquires 1.6% stake in Facebook for $240M, valuing Facebook at $15 billion [4]
2009: Google unveils plans to launch 'Google Wave', its own collaboration and social networking application [5]
2010: ....
2015: ....
2020: ....
2025: ....