To understand software platforms and how they work, it's worth looking at the history of shopping centers. From the need for great partners to designing around people and experiences, they have a lot more in common than you might think. That's the thesis of this talk delivered by Intercom Senior Product Manager, Hugh Durkin at our Inside Intercom Dublin event.

1. What software companies can
learn from shopping centres

15. Where are people spending their time?
Other Domains
61%
Top-20 Domains
39%
myspace.com
yahoo.com
msn.com
ebay.com
google.com
aol.com
pogo.com
facebook.com
amazon.com
craigslist.com
go.com
youtube.com
live.com
bankofamerica.com
wikipedia.com
walmart.com
mapquest.com
neopets.com
adultfriendfinder.com
aim.com 0.2%
0.2%
0.3%
0.3%
0.3%
0.4%
0.4%
0.5%
0.6%
0.6%
0.6%
0.7%
1%
1.6%
1.7%
2.1%
3.7%
3.7%
8.5%
11.9%
% of total time spent online in the US - December 2006

18. Jun
2005
Jun
2006
D
ec
2005
D
ec
2006Jun
2007
Jun
2008
D
ec
2007
D
ec
2008Jun
2009D
ec
2009Jun
2010
Jun
2011
D
ec
2010
D
ec
2011
Market Share of Facebook vs Myspace
Global Online Social Media (2005-2011)
Relativemarketshare,normalised
myspace
facebook

20. What Facebook could
have learned from Daytons

21. From building products
to building platforms

24. Platforms succeed
when they’re truly open

27. “Anchor tenants” bring
audiences and loyalty

30. Contextual discovery is
well planned serendipity

34. What software companies can
learn from shopping centres

35. Platforms aren’t
about technology.

36. Platforms are about
people, behaviour,
and experiences.

37. Successful platforms
are truly open

38. Successful platforms
fuel contextual discovery

39. Successful platforms
are partner-first

40. Software platforms
aren’t complicated

41. Thanks for listening :)