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Platforms as service ecosystems: lessons from social media

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  • Alaimo, Cristina
  • Kallinikos, Jannis
  • Vallderama-Venegas, E

Abstract

The growing business expansion of social media platforms is changing their identity and transforming the practices of networking, data and content sharing with which social media have been commonly associated. We empirically investigate these shifts in the context of TripAdvisor and its evolution since its very establishment. We trace the mutations of the platform along three stages we identify as search engine, social media platform and end-to-end service ecosystem. Our findings reveal the underlying patterns of data types, technological functionalities and actor configurations that punctuate the business expansion of TripAdvisor and lead to the formation of its service ecosystem. We contribute to the understanding of the current trajectory in which social media find themselves as well as to the literature on platforms and ecosystems. We point out the importance of services that develop as commercially viable and constantly updatable data bundles out of diverse and dynamic data types. Such services are essential to the making of the complementarities that are claimed to underlie ecosystem formation.

Suggested Citation

  • Alaimo, Cristina & Kallinikos, Jannis & Vallderama-Venegas, E, 2020. "Platforms as service ecosystems: lessons from social media," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 101474, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:101474
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    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/101474/
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Jan Frederic Nerbel & Markus Kreutzer, 2023. "Digital platform ecosystems in flux: From proprietary digital platforms to wide-spanning ecosystems," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 33(1), pages 1-20, December.
    3. Rantala, Tero & Ukko, Juhani & Nasiri, Mina & Saunila, Minna, 2023. "Shifting focus of value creation through industrial digital twins—From internal application to ecosystem-level utilization," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
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    5. Jovanovic, Marin & Sjödin, David & Parida, Vinit, 2022. "Co-evolution of platform architecture, platform services, and platform governance: Expanding the platform value of industrial digital platforms," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    6. Luíza Neves Marques Fonseca & Clarice Secches Kogut & Angela Rocha, 2023. "Anywhere in the World? The Internationalization of Small Entrepreneurial Ventures using a Social Media Platform," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 63(4), pages 673-696, August.
    7. Holmström, Jonny, 2022. "From AI to digital transformation: The AI readiness framework," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 65(3), pages 329-339.
    8. Peng, Hui & Lu, Yaobin & Gupta, Sumeet, 2023. "Promoting value emergence through digital platform ecosystems: Perspectives on resource integration in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    9. Alaimo, Cristina & Kallinikos, Jannis, 2022. "Organizations decentered: data objects, technology and knowledge," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 112470, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    10. Steffen, Nico & Wiewiorra, Lukas & Kroon, Peter, 2021. "Wettbewerb und Regulierung in der Plattform- und Datenökonomie," WIK Discussion Papers 481, WIK Wissenschaftliches Institut für Infrastruktur und Kommunikationsdienste GmbH.
    11. Pujadas, Roser & Valderrama, Erika & Venters, Will, 2024. "The value and structuring role of web APIs in digital innovation ecosystems: The case of the online travel ecosystem," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(2).
    12. Pujadas, Roser & Valderrama, Erika & Venters, Will, 2024. "The value and structuring role of web APIs in digital innovation ecosystems: the case of the online travel ecosystem," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 121118, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Digital platform; platform ecosystem; data; data-based services; complementarities; social media; social networking; user participation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J50 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - General

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