Have you ever had the feeling that your experience on the internet has gotten worse over the years? Especially for things you have to pay for? Then you’ll likely understand the concept behind ens***tification. A few letters are censored, because…well, you know. If you’re still confused, then keep reading. I think you’ll figure our the missing letters. Let’s chat.

Um What? Ens***tification?

So ens***tification is a relatively new term that describes how internet-based services and products get worse with time. Cory Doctorow, a Canadian writer, introduced this word a few years ago in relation to issues with social media platforms.

Why do these internet services get worse with time?

In a word, money. These platforms, whether they charge users or not, are looking to make money. So they do what they can to attract users and then change the product to be able to increase their profits while lowering their costs.

What does ens***tification look like?

Companies will create great platforms to encourage users to join. Then once there is a critical mass of users or users are locked in and reliant on the service, the quality of the service starts to change for the worse. Maybe there are more ads, maybe they lower privacy protections, maybe the cost for the same service skyrockets, or maybe it just doesn’t work as well anymore. Often times users feel stuck because they don’t know where to go for a similar service, or they have dedicated a lot of time and energy to the service and its difficult to move.

This is particularly true of social networks, where you want to communicate with your friends and family. You might not like the social network anymore, but you’d have to convince all your contacts to move to a new service, no small feat. So you may stay with the social network much longer than you wanted to, just to make sure you can still keep up with people.

I’m not sure if internet companies know how to make money without making their products worse over time. I do think there is a limit to how long users will put up with the poor performance and companies will have to figure something new.

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Commentary: Cory Doctorow: Social Quitting

Ens***tification

As Internet ens***tification marches on, here are some of the worst offenders