I recently commented on a ReadWriteWeb article about the redesign of Google Plus. As readers of this blog and the book know, I’m generally pro-Google. In response to my comment, Ed Borasky wrote:

Google may be “one platform”, but they are not the *market leader* in a number of crucial areas …To be blunt, Google makes *nothing* that I would pay for. Their only attraction is the quality of what they give away – search, Google+, Chrome, GMail and Docs. When it comes to putting down hard cash, I’ll take Microsoft Office over Google Docs and most likely an iPhone over another Android.

Fair points, but name one company that’s the leader in everything? And the beauty of Google and other platform companies is that they still can make money whether an individual user (or even millions) pay for something or not. Advertisers and other third parties are willing to pay even if many users are not.

Did you pay for Instagram? Do its cofounders care?

Monetizing your business is not the same as monetizing your platform or its planks.