Once upon a time, $FB was the 5th fastest growing social network, and yet it came out on top. Two things made it possible: User Generated Content (UGC), and Real Identities.

Aggregation was the antithesis of the Web 2.0 promise; the best suppliers could do was either subject themselves to the Aggregator’s terms and try and make the best of it (call it the BuzzFeed strategy) or work to build a direct connection with customers that went around the Aggregators (the New York Times strategy); Twitter, though, may be on the ... See more