The overzealousness of tech companies will continue in the AI age as well I feel, just in another form. The idea of a corporation is closely linked to this concept.
Damn I hadn't even heard of "enshittification" though experience it through and through. AI slop has made the internet and all of the "social" platforms so terrible. It's the wild wild west really. I just think it's a hard time to be a creator or business because of the noise and the enshittification by these platforms. But at the same time, the simple recipe is just being human and standing for something. That, when done consistently, could help you build and resonate deeply with your audience. Thanks for putting this together, Daniel.
Do you think this is a natural human tendency? Not saying it's right, but it seems to me that enshittification is the result of ever-complex systems run by the irrational and selfish actors that we are. I wonder if there's any massive platform out there that has resisted this phenomena.
Enshittification comes for any venture-funded platform at some point, typically when they reached peak market position, or have weak competition. Some do reverse course - think eBay dropping listing fees after Vinted and the likes captured their market.
Here we are a year out from the writing of this and there's been no antitrust enforcement action against any of them.
Anecdotally, the other day I was on Instagram (I use it sparingly for music fandoms and the like and Facebook not at all anymore). So Instagram and Facebook, Meta that is, has been harvesting my data since 2009. They know what makes me tick and they literally know what I'm going to buy before I buy it. They're good at what they do and they capture me as a consumer with their targeted advertising often because they're so good at it.
So they promoted a brand and product that caught my eye and I was close to ordering. However, I'm also an avid Reddit user. I happened to stumble across a thread about the company before I made a purchase. Turns out the product is shitty AI slop imported from China with terrible customer service and lengthy fulfillment timelines. It sure looks like a cool homegrown brand though.
So we MUST don't our due diligence EVERY TIME they dangle something shiny and pretty in front of us. They at least used to promote quality brands that I was happy to become a repeat customer for. Now, it's not so at all.
Also, every single resale shopping site I use where I try to find quality brands or handmade or resale items is thoroughly enshittified. You used to be able to narrow your search terms to exclude results and hone in in specific keywords or series of keywords. Now, no matter how specific you are, you will not see results for that search term at all unless you're willing to scroll for days. DePop, Etsy, eBay, Amazon (of course), Mercari, Poshmark, Google... The list goes on and on. It's a Herculean task to find the actual things you're looking for.
The worst thing is that it's SO counterintuitive. If you show me the thing I'm clearly searching for, I'm going to buy that thing and probably spend more money for a particular brand name than I would on your enshittified results. It's not like they're substituting quality results for generic ones. It's the opposite and WHY??
I searched Lawry's seasoned salt on Amazon, intending to buy it because I ran out. I'm a real brand snob so that's what I wanted and nothing else. It took me three listings and I had to scroll down to get to it. The top two results weren't even different brands of the same thing. They were entirely different products that were salt-based.
I was recommended a brand of ear protection. I searched Amazon for that very brand. It was buried two *dozen* listings down. And it was a premium product. Of course I almost thought they didn't have it but I was directed to Amazon specifically by my friend. Guess what? When I finally found the item, I bought two of them. Like I intended to all along.
It's not like they tried to sell me adjacent products (I have targeted advertising turned off) and anyway, what exactly do you think I'm going to want to buy while I'm browsing for this particular product? And all the results were for cheaper, shittier products. I don't even get it. They're deliberately fucking us over and why? They'd still make a decent amount of money and sell us impulse shit with a far less aggressive marketing plan.
I just don't get it? It's like it's not even necessary, are they doing it just to fuck with us? It can't possibly add that much value in the long term. I guess they know my buying habits better than I do at this point but I just don't understand why it has to work this way. It might make sense to their teams of data harvesting ghouls but it doesn't to me at all.
Okay so we are wading through shit to read slop and worship the top.
Why? Cos we are used to doing the same thing, and don't stop even when we get different results.
We need to reimagine that paradigm now. In real life. Generating electronic money is not the only thing to do in life, especially now it disproportionately does not benefit the individual. What else is happening in real life? We need assets. Things we can use. Buildings. Community resources and parks not for sale. Over the past two decades both ordinary people and councils have lost real world assets which are a lot more valuable than money.
The internet is indeed wild right now. Someone just shook the snow globe .... 😬 the next shake will come well before the flakes settle..
Agreed, Chris, and AI will have a lot to do with that I think.
It’s crazy how platforms like Google and Meta has changed, and I love your take on enshittification. Your insights are spot on!
Thank you Petar. If Cory Doctorow is right (he usually is), enshittification will come for all our beloved services as they grow.
The overzealousness of tech companies will continue in the AI age as well I feel, just in another form. The idea of a corporation is closely linked to this concept.
Damn I hadn't even heard of "enshittification" though experience it through and through. AI slop has made the internet and all of the "social" platforms so terrible. It's the wild wild west really. I just think it's a hard time to be a creator or business because of the noise and the enshittification by these platforms. But at the same time, the simple recipe is just being human and standing for something. That, when done consistently, could help you build and resonate deeply with your audience. Thanks for putting this together, Daniel.
A good takeaway there, Chintan. Playing by platforms’ algorithms is something I’m tried of - it just leads to the same dross on and on.
Do you think this is a natural human tendency? Not saying it's right, but it seems to me that enshittification is the result of ever-complex systems run by the irrational and selfish actors that we are. I wonder if there's any massive platform out there that has resisted this phenomena.
Enshittification comes for any venture-funded platform at some point, typically when they reached peak market position, or have weak competition. Some do reverse course - think eBay dropping listing fees after Vinted and the likes captured their market.
Ooohh very interesting. Would love to know what causes other companies to do reverse course. Stronger competition then?
Here we are a year out from the writing of this and there's been no antitrust enforcement action against any of them.
Anecdotally, the other day I was on Instagram (I use it sparingly for music fandoms and the like and Facebook not at all anymore). So Instagram and Facebook, Meta that is, has been harvesting my data since 2009. They know what makes me tick and they literally know what I'm going to buy before I buy it. They're good at what they do and they capture me as a consumer with their targeted advertising often because they're so good at it.
So they promoted a brand and product that caught my eye and I was close to ordering. However, I'm also an avid Reddit user. I happened to stumble across a thread about the company before I made a purchase. Turns out the product is shitty AI slop imported from China with terrible customer service and lengthy fulfillment timelines. It sure looks like a cool homegrown brand though.
So we MUST don't our due diligence EVERY TIME they dangle something shiny and pretty in front of us. They at least used to promote quality brands that I was happy to become a repeat customer for. Now, it's not so at all.
Also, every single resale shopping site I use where I try to find quality brands or handmade or resale items is thoroughly enshittified. You used to be able to narrow your search terms to exclude results and hone in in specific keywords or series of keywords. Now, no matter how specific you are, you will not see results for that search term at all unless you're willing to scroll for days. DePop, Etsy, eBay, Amazon (of course), Mercari, Poshmark, Google... The list goes on and on. It's a Herculean task to find the actual things you're looking for.
The worst thing is that it's SO counterintuitive. If you show me the thing I'm clearly searching for, I'm going to buy that thing and probably spend more money for a particular brand name than I would on your enshittified results. It's not like they're substituting quality results for generic ones. It's the opposite and WHY??
I searched Lawry's seasoned salt on Amazon, intending to buy it because I ran out. I'm a real brand snob so that's what I wanted and nothing else. It took me three listings and I had to scroll down to get to it. The top two results weren't even different brands of the same thing. They were entirely different products that were salt-based.
I was recommended a brand of ear protection. I searched Amazon for that very brand. It was buried two *dozen* listings down. And it was a premium product. Of course I almost thought they didn't have it but I was directed to Amazon specifically by my friend. Guess what? When I finally found the item, I bought two of them. Like I intended to all along.
It's not like they tried to sell me adjacent products (I have targeted advertising turned off) and anyway, what exactly do you think I'm going to want to buy while I'm browsing for this particular product? And all the results were for cheaper, shittier products. I don't even get it. They're deliberately fucking us over and why? They'd still make a decent amount of money and sell us impulse shit with a far less aggressive marketing plan.
I just don't get it? It's like it's not even necessary, are they doing it just to fuck with us? It can't possibly add that much value in the long term. I guess they know my buying habits better than I do at this point but I just don't understand why it has to work this way. It might make sense to their teams of data harvesting ghouls but it doesn't to me at all.
Enshittification, indeed.
Okay so we are wading through shit to read slop and worship the top.
Why? Cos we are used to doing the same thing, and don't stop even when we get different results.
We need to reimagine that paradigm now. In real life. Generating electronic money is not the only thing to do in life, especially now it disproportionately does not benefit the individual. What else is happening in real life? We need assets. Things we can use. Buildings. Community resources and parks not for sale. Over the past two decades both ordinary people and councils have lost real world assets which are a lot more valuable than money.