Ecosystem Metrics Too Legit to Quit
The VHS "family" of companies / MC Hammer / Multiplayer cursors
When I visit my parents in the summer, I often sleep in the guest room in the basement. The room is a treasure trove of childhood memorabilia, with plush toys stashed in the wardrobe and the Harry Potter series lining the bookcase. It also tells the story of the evolution of family home entertainment: CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays, and VHS cassettes fill the shelves, each medium requiring a complex system of producers and distributors, as well as recording and playback devices to bring movies and music into our living rooms. Born in the early 1990s, my memories of watching films revolve around VHS cassettes and occasional trips to the video rental shop around the corner, where I’d always pick up a handful of chewy sweets.
In the mid-1970s, VHS emerged as one of several standards for home video recorders, but by the end of 1978, it had become the dominant format worldwide, surpassing Sony's Betamax despite its early lead. The VHS standard was introduced by the Japanese electronics company JVC, which formed strong alliances with manufacturing and distribution partners, contributing to the global rise of VHS and ultimately filling my childhood home with VHS cassettes.
A "family" of companies
In his autobiography, Sony founder Akio Morita writes:
[We] should have worked harder to get more companies together in a "family" to support the Betamax format. Our rival in the VHS format did that and ended up with more companies making that format than ours [...].
In short, the ecosystem needed for Betamax to thrive was weak. Looking back, Morita observes that JVC bet on alliances rather than quick market entry and won.
The importance of business ecosystems has only increased since the 1970s, with the rise of platform economies. Big Tech excels at building mutually (though not equally) beneficial partnerships, from app developer platforms to third-party marketplaces. The benefits of partnerships and communities are widely recognised, leading to the creation of roles like community or ecosystem manager. However, the exact benefits of partnerships can be difficult to quantify.
Ecosystem Metrics
There is a growing number of resources on ecosystem and community metrics, aiming to prove the value of partnerships to those higher up in the organisational hierarchy, who are not swayed by a story about VHS cassettes. Community builder and podcast host Erica Kuhl, for example, distinguishes between company growth metrics, customer success metrics and personal success metrics, and anyone looking for a hands-on approach will find her blog post on data helpful.
Another well-established approach towards ecosystem building and metrics is the introduction of partner programmes, where partners are allocated partnership levels comprising specific entry-requirements and benefits. Metrics can be selected based on relevance and feasibility. While I find clear communication of common objectives appealing, something in me recoils at the thought of classifying my current close collaborators in the open-source ecosystem as "silver", “gold” or “platinum” partners. Generally, I remain sceptical about strategies for strengthening open-source ecosystems that follow the same logic that has created tech ecosystems from which customers can hardly escape.
Measure the measurer
In 2020, the rapper MC Hammer, known for songs like “U Can’t Touch This” and “2 Legit 2 Quit,” posted a tweet that went viral on philosophy Twitter. Hammer argued that science needs philosophy to consider scientific truths in their historical context: “When you measure, include the measurer.” Likewise, metrics are not neutral but determined by the goals we pursue with them. I often turn this around and ask myself what I even want metrics for. Sometimes we need them to demonstrate success in terms of business logic, but personally, I find metrics much more useful for decision-making.
Instead of measuring growth for growth’s sake, I ask myself: what do I need to know to keep doing something, stop doing it, or approach it differently? How do I know if a particular event was a success? How do I determine if an organisation is a strong ally in the ecosystem, and how can I tell if we’ve achieved a common goal? Answers to these questions are far more enlightening than newsletter open rates and, I believe, more conducive to building a long-term “family” of organisations.
The Toybox
There’s still a chance to play my silly mini game, share your high score, and give a shout-out to your favourite human – in my previous newsletter. In the meantime, here’s another fun project by Matt Webb: the “cursor party.” Matt has enabled multiplayer cursors on his blog, allowing you to see other visitors passing by and even chat with them. It’s a moment of togetherness over the internet, and the code is available open-source here. If you have fun projects to share, drop me a line and I’ll feature them in this newsletter.
Treats
Speaking of multiplayer cursors, I really enjoyed Nolen Royalty’s long read on the people interacting with his seemingly pointless multiplayer checkbox game, One Million Checkboxes. And if you haven’t had enough of metrics yet, give a listen to the In Before the Lock podcast, you’ll find an episode on community metrics here.
