However if we look at successful marketing launches, we notice that the "network effect," is alive and well on the Internet, and has been the driving force that made many companies what they are today. Paypal offered referral fees for opening accounts with them, and they became an overnight success. INGDirect did the same, though less successfully so. AllAdvantage, Google, Skype, MySpace, and most portals somehow or other leveraged the network effect, and a few reinforced the network effect through incentives, referral fees, and sometimes multi-level compensation. The results are visible in inflated stockmarket evaluations of some companies which are temporarily deemed successful, but the question remains how well they serve all stakeholders, not just shareholders. MySpace and Google are examples where the "value creation" accrues entirely to the founders and shareholders, and not to the users except through the functionality of their services, which are paid for with advertising, and to some degree the sacrifice of privacy, not hard cash. I liken this part to the early days of television, and network TV, which became all paid for by advertising.
The Digital Un-divide: Internet Marketing dos and don’ts: Network Marketing, really?
