Stealing Traction: How Youtube, Paypal, AirBnB grew through piggybacking
1–10 of 31 posts
Re: Stealing Traction: How Youtube, Paypal, AirBnB grew through piggybacking
#2There was a similar discussion on a similar story 14 days back.
Re: Stealing Traction: How Youtube, Paypal, AirBnB grew through piggybacking
#3The title is a bit off in my opinion. AirBnB could be said to have stolen Craigslist's traction, but that really doesn't apply to examples like Youtube making sharing videos possible on MySpace. Youtube added value to MySpace and made it a better platform; AirBnB on the other hand added value to landlords and tenants - at the expense of Craigslist.
Re: Stealing Traction: How Youtube, Paypal, AirBnB grew through piggybacking
#4[deleted]
Re: Stealing Traction: How Youtube, Paypal, AirBnB grew through piggybacking
#5The title is a bit off in my opinion. AirBnB could be said to have stolen Craigslist's traction, but that really doesn't apply to examples like Youtube making sharing videos possible on MySpace. Youtube added value to MySpace and made it a better platform; AirBnB on the other hand added value to landlords and tenants - at the expense of Craigslist.
It's a subtle difference, but I would call it "siphoning traffic."
Re: Stealing Traction: How Youtube, Paypal, AirBnB grew through piggybacking
#6There was a similar discussion on a similar story 14 days back. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6268430
Incidentally, written by the same author! Great stuff!
Re: Stealing Traction: How Youtube, Paypal, AirBnB grew through piggybacking
#7Youtube to Myspace does not seem like the same as the other comparisons. Myspace is/was a social network and better in-page videos -- no matter where they are served from - would only make Myspace more appealing because of how they catered to music bands. to say that Youtube stole Myspace's traction is like saying imgur stole Reddit's traction when instead, it's more likely that imgur's great service accelerated Reddit's popularity (at least with memes...I'm talking quantity, not quality :)) -- and vice versa. There was no reason that couldn't have happened with myspace/youtube
Re: Stealing Traction: How Youtube, Paypal, AirBnB grew through piggybacking
#8Youtube to Myspace does not seem like the same as the other comparisons. Myspace is/was a social network and better in-page videos -- no matter where they are served from - would only make Myspace more appealing because of how they catered to music bands. to say that Youtube stole Myspace's traction is like saying imgur stole Reddit's traction when instead, it's more likely that imgur's great service accelerated Redd…
Yeah, as the other commenter says, 'siphoning' is probably better though it is still stealing if you don't think of traffic as a zero-sum game. It's after all only in zero-sum games like physical goods that stealing reduces value to the owner.
Re: Stealing Traction: How Youtube, Paypal, AirBnB grew through piggybacking
#9The title is a bit off in my opinion. AirBnB could be said to have stolen Craigslist's traction, but that really doesn't apply to examples like Youtube making sharing videos possible on MySpace. Youtube added value to MySpace and made it a better platform; AirBnB on the other hand added value to landlords and tenants - at the expense of Craigslist.
"It’s important to note that Craigslist doesn’t allow external services to post listings there and Airbnb had to go out of its way to simulate that feature."
The author might make a good politician.
Re: Stealing Traction: How Youtube, Paypal, AirBnB grew through piggybacking
#10This is tangentially related, but here is less OT than in most discussions :)
I'm currently building http://www.bandol.it, a Humble Bundle clone targeted at Italian Independent Music (and, maybe, books).
I'm experiencing the dreaded chicken and egg problem: bands won't give me their music if I don't have a big following, while people won't follow me if I don't offer them good bands.
How did Humble Bundle solve this?