Top Web Services as Governments

Facebook looks a little like the Russia of Vladimir Putin. Facebook was originally a state economy. The vast majority of the services were provided initially by Facebook. Later, they liberalized their economy with the introduction of the Facebook API. That unleashed a torrent of investment and innovation, but also some bad behavior and unsavory characters. Now the state is reasserting control over the economy with the introduction of Facebook Credits.

The monarch got angry when he found out that many of the applications that ran on the iPhone collected device information which developers use to improve the reliability and performance of their apps, but that that same information allowed analytics providers to access state secrets, like the existence of a new device - the iPad.

Twitter, by comparison, seems to have a more limited view of state power. They can still appear arbitrary and capricious, especially to companies who make URL shorteners, or iPhone clients, but they did not use state power to ban anyone, or to extract a tax.

Despite Craig's progressive personal politics, Craigslist lives the credo "a government governs best that governs least". They make very few changes to the site, and then, only when users ask for it. Their business model is restrained.

Tries to do what's best for users while balancing their interest in increasing their ad revenue.