Nobody wins Stage 4
Facebook is the example Cory Doctorow built the term around. It won users with a friends-first feed, locked them in through the social graph, then turned the feed toward advertisers and publishers, and finally toward whatever keeps attention: recommended posts, Reels, and now AI-generated content. Your own network is increasingly hard to find in it. Even AI chats now feed ad targeting. Still huge, but hollowed out for users and creators alike. Stage 4.
- Since
- 2004
- Function
- Social
- VC-backed
- Yes
- Public
- Since 2012 (NASDAQ: META)
Rating checklist
The stage follows from these criteria under the published method. Extraction and decline count only with a dated source from the last 3 years.
- Alignment 0 of 3
- None
- Lock-in 1 of 4
-
- L1 Network or reputation
- Extraction 2 of 7
-
- E5 Data grab Oct 1, 2025
- E7 Worse defaults Apr 2025
- Decline 1 of 3
-
- D3 Core function degraded Apr 2025
Result: Extraction that meets the stage 3 test, plus at least one decline criterion, so stage 4.
News signals
More in Social
-
Bluesky
1Open-protocol microblogging with chronological and custom feeds, no ads, and portable accounts—though $100M+ of venture money will eventually want a return.
-
Discord
3Strong real-time product for communities, but your social graph and server history are deeply embedded—switching means rebuilding social capital elsewhere.
-
Instagram
3Photo sharing turned short-video storefront: Reels, ads, and shopping crowd out the people you follow, while Meta's AI and ad systems mine every interaction.
-
LinkedIn
3The default résumé graph for many industries, increasingly monetized via feed ads, recruiter tools, and upsells—users are the inventory.
-
Mastodon (fediverse)
1Federated microblogging with no single owner; rough edges, but user surplus and exit to other instances is real.
-
Reddit
3Mature platform shifting value toward advertisers, mods as unpaid labor, and product changes that prioritize engagement over quality.
-
TikTok
3The most effective attention machine yet: a recommendation feed that pays off for viewers while ads, TikTok Shop, and creator payout swings shift value to the platform.
-
X (Twitter)
4API paywalls, algorithmic feeds, verification products, and ad load shift surplus toward the operator and advertisers—classic extraction on a still-central public square.
