> We talk about inventions like digital social networks as if they're inherently bad designs. Actually the idea of a web-scale address book was and remains great, but the environment it originally grew up in was rotten to the core.<p>This is the kind of attitude that results in "we'll do it again, but this time we'll Be Nice!!", cue surprised pikachu when the exact same behaviors result because <i>the financial incentives have not changed</i> (see also: crypto vs "Big Bad Banks"). It has nothing to do with a "rotten environment" or mustache-twirling villains.<p>The problem is that these social networks are extremely expensive to run, and users are largely not willing to pay for them. So they become the product (as the author points out, to their credit), and must be kept engaged at all costs. If the product gets bored, they won't open your app.<p>The idea of requiring API keys, though, is compelling. Third party services will immediately pop up to provide aggregation services, and <i>their</i> costs will be far less. They can just use your keys. This would also kneecap social media companies because they would no longer be able to serve ads to any API users. I'm not sure this would ever happen in the US, unless they can charge for API use.