Have you heard of FANG, the leaders in the global stock market?
FANG is an abbreviation for the major US IT companies Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and Google. All members of the FANG are global platformer, a leader in online data platforms.
# Platformers and Data
In the fourth industrial revolution era platforms are so powerful that there is even a saying “A well-built platform can replace ten companies”. Platforms is where people get on and off trains. In other words, platforms are marketplaces where content providers and users share and exchange content online.
FANG connects suppliers and consumers by using online platforms and obtains data from the users. The user data is used again for platform expansion and development, allowing FANG to grow endlessly. The phenomenon where the value is amplified by how the usage of the people is called the ‘Network Effect’.
Platformers like Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and Google are constantly gaining data from the platform and using it as a driving force for creating new contents. This is possible because data is directly related to future technologies such as AI, IoT, and autonomous vehicles that enhances our convenience in life.
# Global platformer FANG, and their platform operation method
Let’s take a look at how platformer FANG build platforms to collect data and use them. First is Facebook, which has more than 2 billion users worldwide. Facebook acquires social data and uses it to collects information on hobbies, preferences, and personal relationships that are not usually visible to the naked eye. Additionally, the Facebook Connect also has a very wide platform usage in terms of making it easier to use and log into other Facebook affiliated websites. Facebook has recently invested heavily in video platforms with an interest in VR and AR.
The world’s leading online comer platform Amazon has a wealth of data including purchase histories, purchase channels, and credit card information. Based on this big data, Amazon uses a unique recommendation algorithm called the item-to-item collaborative filtering. Also the Amazon Web Service (AWS), an Amazon cloud service, offers varieties services like big data analysis and cloud platform services. Through the revenues from these various platforms, Amazon is thriving in the cloud and AI platform market.
Netflix provides varieties of series, movies, and performances on an online platform, collecting an average of 4 million user ratings per day and 3 million social data including search history, locations, and device information. Analyzed data outputs user content consumption patterns that gives Netflix access to information on when, where, and how the contents are viewed as well as identify viewer trends by devices. Especially, the customized content recommendation algorithm that utilizes AI to closely analyze the viewer’s taste are attracting customers.
Google is the world’s largest search engine. Google organizes information that is already public on the internet and provides it on the search platform. Not only that, it also converts non-digitized data such as private information or google maps into digital data. They also collect and utilize tremendous amounts of data through Android smart devices. These Big data has been key to the Google’s leading role in AI. The artificial intelligence AlphaGo, also well known to us as the AI that battled against the famous Go player Lee Se-Dol, is also a creation by Google’s deep mind.
# Future created by global platformer
Recently, the Chinese BAT is emerging as the new IT leader that is able to compete against the U.S FANG. BAT stands for Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent. They are also global platformers that collect new data based on platforms and create values from them. The new innovations to be created by platformers are something we can look forward to in the future. It will bring us more varied, more convenient platform and better technology!
