Skip to main content

What Is A Platform?


A country is a platform.

This was obvious to my friend when he called me last week and asked what I was doing.

"I was just talking to the missus about how a country is a platform."
"Yeah, it is" he said, like it's old news. He's a startup guy, he knows the deal.

But the missus had just been saying how it was easy for me to say because I work in the world of tech and only techies will get the analogy. I said to her, "I got news for you, we all live in the world of tech."

You don't have to work for a tech company to post or to view YouTube videos. You don't need to know anything about tech to get a ride with Uber, or to book an apartment on AirBnB. Amazon has over 200 million customers most of whom don't work in tech. Wikipedia is read by students, teachers, and any shape of curious person there is. Don't get me started on Twitter, Facebook, Google, or, while I'm at it, the internet as a whole. Few tech products are just for people in tech, let alone platforms.

Here's the point: We all use online platforms, we all know how they work. 

Platforms bring people (users) together. If we dissect this further, we see two user types; producers and consumers. They come to the same place even though they have different roles. Imagine a one man YouTube channel with a million subscribers (he's the producer, the subscribers consumers). If we zoom out again we see an ecosystem of goods, services, conversations, rules, and transactions that culminate at a user's interaction with the play button.  The content (videos) produced on YouTube, the comments and other interaction events (video likes, subscriptions, reporting videos), and the advertisers who pay Google for the ads on videos are central to a functioning ecosystem.

Uber, AirBnB, Freelancer, Wikipedia, Amazon, Twitter, and Facebook all work in similar ways to a large extent. As websites, they are not valuable in and of themselves. They need users to participate in order to be successful. But the platform is responsible for providing users with tools and with defining rules  that govern user interactions and define the overall experience. Choudary's Platformed blog goes into depth about all of this stuff and it's a brilliant resource for anybody in  tech, but his TRIE concept does help make an excellent analogy. 

A country works pretty much the same way. More complex, but still very much like an online platform. The institutions (tools) and the laws (rules) set the tone for the way in which people go about their daily lives (interactions) and on their quality of life (experience). The government is the developer while payments on the platform, of course, are akin to our unavoidable taxes.

Just like it's ignorant to say that the value of an online platform is solely down to its features and the efforts of the development team, it's ignorant to surmise that a government (read, parliament, prime minister, president, or judiciary) is solely responsible for the experience of a country's citizens.

Think about it.

There are anti-corruption laws in Romania, but citizens still give bribes. There are traffic laws in Romania, but fatal accidents are all too common on our roads. We have a consumer protection agency, but does everyone who gets swindled in a transaction lodge complaints? Granted, 'the developers' in our government are terrible at prioritizing, rolling out new features, providing support, or improving the sluggish, outdated system.

But here's the beauty of not actually being an online platform.

Every few years, we have the opportunity to change the development team. If they do a bad job with the tools and rules they set out for us, we get to hold them responsible and kick them out with our votes. If we don't do that, we can't blame anybody but ourselves, civil-society.


Everybody has a role in a country, just like  everybody has a role on a platform. Moreover, these  roles are interchangeable. The prime-minister and president are also citizens subject to the same laws and institutions. If they don't do a good job with the health-care system, for example, they need to fly out to Turkey for their knee surgery. That's embarrassing. It's like the CEO of Uber using Lyft, or vice-versa. This poor experience, as citizens, should stir their conscience as leaders to improve the situation. But, this isn't a should/could/would type of post, I just wanted to clarify with a Ponta example.

But let's talk about Ponta a bit. He's gone. That's great. But what's next?

How do we avoid another Ponta?



As long as democracy is the system of government that creates the rules and interactions in our lives, we're going to deal with elected governments that create laws and set the tone for our institutions. If we're smart, we're only going to elect people (other citizens/ platform users) who propose the best laws and who are adept at managing the our taxes to improve the institutions (the tools at our disposal). But here's the hardest part in all this: Not all of those who stand for election are qualified or able to do a good job. Worst of all, many have no intention of doing the job for which they were elected to begin with. But what about you, virtuous citizen, are you willing to stand in their stead?

Which brings me to this: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.

By the way, a country is a platform. So know your role and do your part. If you don't like it, change it.

Comments

  1. Every few years we don't have the opportunity change the development team because of Lista de Partid! In May 2015 the Romanian Parliament (supported by Iohannis) eliminated the direct elections and returned to closed party lists, and democracy died.

    Closed party lists are the voting method for every level of government in Romania; from city council to parliament. They are like a virulent Communist virus causing the hopes of Romanians to live on life support.

    Closed party lists are the tools for politicians to pass laws that 90% of Romanians hate – like cutting out the heart of our nations identity – the world most beautiful forested mountains.

    Closed party lists are about two things – control and corruption. Just a few national party leaders can effectively choose every candidate on the ballot; assuring the ability to pass any laws they want.

    There is no accountability in closed party list systems. Even when nothing gets done, the politicians never change. And Romanians remain hopeless while their children leave the country.

    Change starts from the top of Parliament. Moral examples always start at the top. Parliament must start behaving like a Western democracy, not as a post-communist state. That starts with removing criminal amnesties and secret votes in Parliament. Parliament must supervise themselves through their own ethics committees, which investigate corruption among parliamentarians and approve each proposed member cabinet.

    Romanian citizens owe to their parents and children to make the deputies and senators directly responsible for strengthening anti-corruption institutions and to recover all money in each final decision. Sooner or later, our life depends on it!

    If we keep quiet, they will think we do not exist.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

10 Reasons Why Romania is Better Than America

Really? Yes, really. Let me count the ways. In America you can get everything you've ever dreamed of: GameBoy, Sega Genesis, plants that look like faces , and more.  Maybe if you work really hard long hours at the job you hate (but that you tell everybody you love lest you appear to be a miserable person), you can even get a flat panel home theater TV that takes up half your basement (on credit, of course). Awesomeness!! In America you can always be sure to be on top of the latest fad, such as devil sticks or Tamagochi and you will be first to read bestsellers like The DaVinci Code and Fifty Shades of Crap literature. Basically there are thousands of ways of feeling accomplished -or pretending that you are - you just need to be there to catch all these wonderful trends on time! I know what you're thinking, how can Romania possibly top all that considering America is also the land of Root beer floats and Antoine Dodson? Everything's been done in America, that's

Is Cluj The Best City On Earth?

It's a question I ask myself at times. Let's put it this way; I've been around. Maybe not all around the world, but halway-ish maybe. Sailed the canals of Amsterdam, biked from one end of Paris to the other, took the train from Budapest to Berlin, drove the 405 in LA, and yeah, I even rode a hay cart back in the day. But other than enjoying all these forms of transportation, I got to enjoy the places I visited. I don't know about you, but when I visit a place I always ask myself,  'would I live here?' While the answer is often 'yes, why not', the only place I moved to was Cluj. Cluj, how do I love thee, let me count the ways: 1. I love your smell. It's like earth, and air, and city. I will never forget my first day here, when I  walked out of the arrivals building at the airport and breathed in your smell. Spring. You're the city of eternal Spring. On a balmy day, it's what you smell like, even if it's December, or August. 2. I l

Are Romanian Women The Most Beautiful In The World?

More than once, I was asked to write about the beauty of Romanian women, but... I have no words. Besides, I may be biased, but clearly it's a rhetorical question. However, there is no shortage of Facebook pages dedicated to the subject. Image: A typical Romanian woman, Madalina Ghenea.

10 More Reasons Romania is Better Than America

I get it. The US is special. I hate to say it, especially as a Canadian, but it is. But it's mostly special because of the America that it used to be. The idea of America is special. There was, once, an American Dream within the reach of any hard working man. It was a country that offered unprecedented freedoms and opportunities unmatched by any other. The great melting pot was about inclusion towards one common goal, it was not divisive, individualistic and driven by a Bergeron-esque vision of 'equality'. Assets were not based on decades-long lines of credit, and salaries kept up with cost of living increases. I could go on about 'the way things used to be' but you can look it all up if you're interested. If you live there, you should be. The reality in America is different now. Sure, it's still the land of plenty. But the plenty is not all good. Plenty of debt, plenty of poverty, plenty of obesity, plenty of civil unrest coupled with plenty of he

10 Things Romania Does (A Bit) Differently - Part 1

A few days ago, after walking into a grocery store, I couldn't help noticing I was in a state of trepidation. The reason? I'd walked in with my gym bag, purposely avoiding the security guy at the entrance. I felt his eyes must be following me and that a loud, "Hey, you!" would ring out the moment I turned into an aisle. It turns out that the longer you live somewhere, the more you get used to it. A truism, of course. What is not immediately apparent is that this isn't necessarily a good thing, especially when you find that you've become used to something you may have found, at some point in the past, in another place, entirely unacceptable. This is why, now that I've crossed over the honeymoon period of my move to Romania, I find my enthusiasm for life here wanes when, for the 286th time, I  am forced to walk into a supermarket through the designated entrance point, even if an empty checkout is much closer and no less accessible. Then, upon entry, a gr

You Can't Plan a Romania Road Trip, But You Should Anyway

I started writing this post in September 2014, not long after coming back from vacation. I dropped it because I got sick of going through the hundreds of pictures we took just to pick the perfect ones for this post. But, like a seed once planted, it needs some water and the right conditions to flourish. In my case: an email from a reader, asking me about road-tripping through Romania, and the chance to lift this weight off my back. So here it is, a summary of one Romania road trip, from Cluj and back. The Itinerary ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2,656 Kilometers. 188 Liters of gas. 2,919 RON. That's more or less the tally for the Romania road trip I took with my roomie/wife Roxana. We could have booked an all-inclusive vacation to Greece, Turkey, or Bulgaria at about the same cost, but how could we resist a road trip? A unique waterfall , the ' tunnel of love ', the best dri

What I Learned About Driving In Romania

I get it now. I understand Romanian drivers and their follies. It's something I thought would never happen. All it took to shape me into a Romanian road rage machine was one month of driving around Cluj and a 400 km round trip. I'm kidding about the rage part. The idea of driving in Cluj was intimidating. Last time I'd driven manual shift was almost ten years ago when a co-worker asked me to drive her and her newly purchased, Pontiac Firefly  home because she had no idea how to do it. So of course I stalled that little bastard all over the place. Little surprise that the idea of driving along busy and narrow European streets was unappealing - especially after years of driving automatic on wide, North American roads. But I managed. Stalled an average of once per trip during the first week, and then a couple of times in the second week, and now, a little over a month later, I sometimes stall at stoplights when I forget I'm driving stick and leave it in gear when I rel

Why Romanians Don't Like Romanians

To my knowledge, this national self-loathing is a uniquely Romanian experience. Maybe we share it with some of our neighbours, but I doubt it. I've never seen a people dislike their own as much as the Romanians. This is going to be highly generalized, but as with most things I write here it's rooted in personal experience and observations. Don't hate the player, hate the game. 1. Romanians like the exotic, to be Romanian is the antithesis of what it means to be exotic. 2 . Romanians are often prejudiced. The thought process goes something like this: If you're Romanian you're probably bereft of interesting experiences and financially limited. You're from 'the-worst-country-on-earth', after all. If  you're well off, then you're just a rich asshole (probably a thief, too). Either way, your Romanian-ness ensures you're seen as a person with limited horizons who likely can't offer anything new or different. If you're Western Europe

10 Things Romania Does (A Bit) Differently - Part 2

Most lists don't begin at number 6, so if you want to start at the beginning, head over to Part 1 . 6.  The Clothes Dryer The mighty clothes dryer, a staple appliance in just about every North American home, is essentially non-existent in Romania. While it isn't suspiciously regarded as a harbinger of death, as is the A/C unit, it takes up a lot of space and consumes plenty of energy, both of which come in short supply relative to Romanian preferences. Besides, if everyone had a dryer, then balconies, clothes lines, and drying racks would take up space for no good reason, and doing the laundry would be an all too efficient endeavour (generally considered bad taste in our neck of the woods).  Of course dryers do exist, usually on a steam-drying system, sometimes in a 2-in-1 washer/dryer combination (which requires no external vent or filters), but it's nonetheless a long-forgotten luxury for many a nostalgic expat. 7. Sidewalk Parking I could write several blog post

Here Is Why Romania's Future Is Bright

The festival is only in its second edition, but following last year's inaugural event, Electric Castle has stirred up enough buzz to attract visitors from beyond Romania's borders. Walking around the festival grounds I had the impression that every other group was comprised of foreigners speaking Hungarian, English, German, or French. And judging by the license plates in the parking lots, every county in Romania was well represented. While there's plenty to be said about the artists and the music, there's something else I want to discuss in this post. When you think "music festival", the image that comes to mind is that of overly excited youth on a drug and alcohol infused rampage, laying waste to everything in their path. Maybe it has something to do with the way festivals like to promote themselves; these are basically the images that stand out on most 'Official Aftermovie' videos from major music festivals. But obviously the experience is defined