Digital Disalignment

When purchasing a physical product, we often rely on specific features as an assurance of its value over time. Additionally, whether it's a washing machine, hair dryer, or coffee machine, these products come with warranties that promise quality, durability and consistent performance. This expectation has become a standard, and failure to meet it often drives us towards competitors. As a result, this balance of quality assurance leads to healthy competition and consumer choice.

Digital products and services—like blogging platforms, social media, or photo storage—offer little to no such guarantees. The existence and quality of these services often rely on continuous payment and the interplay with the company providing these digital goods. In fact, even paying for access does not always guarantee the maintenance of quality as the product or pricing can change unexpectedly.

Sometimes, this misalignment between consumer expectations and company actions is not accidental but intentional, creating a scenario one could describe as "disalignment", rather than simply misalignment. In yhese cases, companies adjust their products or services, knowing that consumers may not agree with these changes. This deliberate shift gives companies substantial power, as users often have limited recourse.

While Apple is often cited as an example of this phenomenon, given its recent scrutiny under public and regulatory lenses, more intriguing examples come from smaller, niche companies striving to stay afloat by any means necessary. These companies may promise features they cannot realistically deliver, for a price that is not economically viable. Eventually, this creates a gap between consumer expectations and the actual offerings.

Historically, whenever we bought a video game or other physical media, we expected to own it outright. We could play the game or use the media whenever we wanted, without concern for ongoing costs or changes. The shift to subscription models has changed this landscape. While subscription models offer continuous revenue for companies, innovation may fall behind. After all, if a company is confident that its customers will continue to pay regardless, why improve the product's quality?

Another interesting example is Substack, a blogging platform I've used for this blog. Its design seems perfectly aligned with writers' interests, showing readers ways to subscribe to my blog. And the more subscribers, the better, right? However, I think there is a possibility that ads might be introduced once a critical user base is reached. This potential shift in incentives might not have been transparent from the start, leaving users feeling misled.

Similarly, YouTube's gradual introduction of ads, despite initially being ad-free, illustrates how digital services can evolve in ways that prioritize corporate goals over user experience. When you consider the amount of Google products that have been cancelled throughout the years, one would be skeptical about their quality. This breaks the trust with their users and causing them to leave the platform or hesitate to join in the first place, creating a vicious cycle.

Some might argue that these transitions are natural as startups grow and seek profitability. I know companies have to make money, but it feels disingenuous when a company you've supported pivots in a way that almost feels like a betrayal. The lack of transparency about long-term plans can leave users with an inferior product, contrary to their initial expectations. And the thing with digital products and services, is that they can take any shape or form.

It's a compelling argument to say that a company's evolution can also lead to better, more refined digital experiences. However, this may also cause lock-in effects—where customers are reluctant to leave due to lack of awareness or the complexity of switching—can still be relevant. While we cannot control or regulate these shifts directly, I think it's important to recognize when a deal seems too good to be true, it often is. Instead, we should advocate for systems that try to stabilize this dynamic in a meaningful way.

Rather than creating entirely new concepts, most tech innovations build on existing ideas. For instance, social media has become increasingly standardized, with platforms like Mastodon offering decentralized alternatives. Developers may argue about the difficulty of standardizing data structures across all services, but core content elements are often consistent. By focusing on these fundamental aspects, we can create standards that simplify the user experience and ensure data portability.

In summary, ensuring more flexible ecosystems for switching between digital services may requires us to create, maintain and respect new standards and protocols. Establishing these standards should be a collaborative effort, ideally maintained by a community through open-source platforms like GitHub. This approach would ensure that digital systems remain transparent, adaptable and consistent, ultimately benefiting both consumers and innovators.