Platform capitalism

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Platform capitalism is an economic and business model in which digital platforms play a central role in facilitating interactions, transactions, and services between different user groups, typically consumers and producers. This model of capitalism has emerged and expanded with the rise of the Internet and digital technologies, transforming various sectors of the economy from retail and transportation to media and labor markets. [1] [2] Four main facets of platform capitalism are: crowdsourcing, sharing economy, gig economy and platform economy. [3] [4] Key characteristics of platform capitalism include:

Examples of platform capitalism include: e-commerce platforms (Amazon, Alibaba, eBay), social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, X), ride-hailing platforms (Uber, Lyft), short-term rental platforms (Airbnb), online travel booking platforms (Expedia, Booking.com, Kayak), video-sharing platforms (YouTube, TikTok), search engine platforms (Google Search, Microsoft Bing), web mapping platforms (Google Maps, Apple Maps, Petal Maps), streaming platforms (Netflix, Spotify, Disney+, Apple TV+), fintech platforms (PayPal), food delivery platforms (Just Eat, DoorDash), crowdfunding platforms (GoFundMe), freelancing platforms (Upwork, Fiverr), online learning platforms (Coursera, Udemy, Khan Academy, edX), voice and video calling platforms (Skype, Zoom), e-book hosting platforms (Kindle, Apple Books), job search platforms (LinkedIn, Indeed), dating platforms (Tinder, Bumble, OkCupid), pornographic platforms (Pornhub, XVideos, xHamster), telemedicine platforms (WebMD, Teladoc Health), and generative artificial intelligence platforms (GPT-4o, Claude 3.5, Gemini, Llama, Copilot, Grok).

In this business model both hardware and software are used as a foundation (platform) for other actors to conduct their own business. [5] [6]

Platform capitalism has been both praised for its innovation, user empowerment and market efficiency [7] and criticized for its potential for exploitation, market concentration, algorithmic bias and privacy concerns [8] [9] by various authors. The trends identified in platform capitalism have similarities with those described under the heading of surveillance capitalism. [10] Technology companies build platforms that entire industries rely on, and those industries can easily collapse due to the decisions of those technology companies. [11]

The possible effect of platform capitalism on open science has been discussed. [12]

Platform capitalism has been contrasted with platform cooperativism. Companies that try to focus on fairness and sharing, instead of just profit motive, are described as cooperatives, whereas more traditional and common companies that focus solely on profit, like Airbnb and Uber, are platform capitalists (or cooperativist platforms vs capitalist platforms). In turn, projects like Wikipedia, which rely on unpaid labor of volunteers, can be classified as commons-based peer-production initiatives. [13] : 31, 36 

See also

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<i>The Age of Surveillance Capitalism</i> Book published in 2018

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A digital platform is a software-based online infrastructure that facilitates user interactions and transactions.

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References

  1. ↑ Boyer, Robert (2022). "Platform capitalism: a socio-economic analysis". Socio-Economic Review . 20 (4): 1857–1879. doi:10.1093/ser/mwaa055.
  2. ↑ Törnberg, Petter (2023). "How platforms govern: Social regulation in digital capitalism". Big Data & Society. 10 (1). doi: 10.1177/20539517231153808 .
  3. ↑ Liang, Yin; Aroles, Jeremy; Brandl, Bernd (2022). "Charting platform capitalism: Definitions, concepts and ideologies". New Technology, Work and Employment. 37 (2): 308–327. doi: 10.1111/ntwe.12234 .
  4. ↑ Langley, Paul; Leyshon, Andrew (2017). "Platform capitalism: The intermediation and capitalisation of digital economic circulation". Finance and Society. 3 (1): 11–31. doi: 10.2218/finsoc.v3i1.1936 .
  5. ↑ N. Srnicek, Platform Capitalism. Wiley, 2016.
  6. ↑ L. Weatherby, "Delete Your Account: On the Theory of Platform Capitalism," Los Angeles Review of Books, 2018.
  7. ↑ A. McAfee and E. Brynjolfsson, Machine, platform, crowd: harnessing our digital future. W. W. Norton and Company, 2017.
  8. ↑ J. Lanier, Ten arguments for deleting your social media accounts right now. Henry Holt and Co., 2018.
  9. ↑ Srnicek, Nick (2017). "The challenges of platform capitalism: Understanding the logic of a new business model". Juncture. 23 (4): 254–257. doi:10.1111/newe.12023.
  10. ↑ S. Zuboff, The age of surveillance capitalism: the fight for a human future at the new frontier of power. PublicAffairs, 2019.
  11. ↑ Herrman, John (28 April 2023). "The news went viral: The media bet its future on Facebook". Intelligencer. New York City: Vox Media. Retrieved 25 April 2024.
  12. ↑ P. Mirowski, "The future(s) of open science," Soc. Stud. Sci., vol. 48, no. 2, pp. 171–203, Apr. 2018.
  13. ↑ Dariusz Jemielniak; Aleksandra Przegalinska (18 February 2020). Collaborative Society. MIT Press. ISBN   978-0-262-35645-9.


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