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# On Websites, Planks, and Platforms
- URL: https://www.philsimon.com/on-websites-planks-and-platforms/
- Published: 2012-01-24T14:25:45.000Z
- Updated: 2025-12-30T08:25:00.000Z
- Description: Your site is a plank, not a platform.
- Author: Phil Simon
- Tags: Platforms, Strategy, The Age of the Platform

Many people, smart people even, equate a website with a platform.

I don't buy it.

A website should be a plank in your platform. There's a big difference. Your platform should have more than a few planks.

In 1998, Google wasn't a platform. It was a very popular search engine. It became a platform by adding many planks: Gmail, YouTube, Docs, Maps, etc.