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# Platforms and the Death of Synonyms
- URL: https://www.philsimon.com/platforms-and-the-death-of-synonyms/
- Published: 2012-03-27T10:01:05.000Z
- Updated: 2025-07-21T02:20:05.000Z
- Description: What happens when everything is a platform?
- Author: Phil Simon
- Tags: Communication, Platforms, Strategy, Message Not Received, The Age of the Platform

Not everything is a platform.

Let me repeat that: Not everything is a platform.

This [TechCrunch article](https://ht.ly/9Q2OH?ref=philsimon.com) must set some type of unofficial record for the number of times that the word *platform* is (mis)used.

I take great pains in the book to define a true platform.

What *isn't* a platform? Netflix, for one. It's more a service. What can John Q. Developer build on top of Netflix? Nothing, last time I checked. (Internally, of course, that's not true, as I detail in [*The Visual Organization*](https://tinyurl.com/6philtvo?ref=philsimon.com).) In 1998, Google wasn't a platform; it was a search engine. It became one by adding different planks. Ditto Amazon in 1994 and Facebook in it early days. These companies became platforms.

True platforms evolve in ways discussed in the book. Calling something a *platform* doesn't make it so.