•
2 October 2024
User Experience
Enshittification. Elected as the word of 2023, it describes the process of gradual decline in the quality of a product or service. A trend that has been growing. What does the process of enshittification look like? How does it start? And why should you care to avoid or reverse this trend?
The 3 phases of enshittification
1. The ‘lock-in’ Enshittification occurs in phases.
Phase 1 is known as the ‘lock-in’ phase. A new product often sprouts from an unaddressed problem or a new technology. The company tries to lure as many new users as possible, so they spend time on the user experience. Common examples are Facebook, Uber, Netflix, Adobe… The product is actually trying to solve the problem for the user, and they don’t have to pay a lot yet, so they become more dependent. So far, so good, right? At some point, it becomes harder for the product to acquire new users and grow their user base. An executive looks at the numbers, thinks really hard, and puts the following suggestion forward: “Let’s focus on the monetization per user.” Phase 2 kicks into action.
2. Monetization per user
Now is the time that companies try to earn more per customer and implement monetization mechanisms. This is not in the user’s interest and is often at the expense of the user experience. Since the customers are by now switched over to their product, they can get away with a less than ideal user experience. Companies typically implement changes such as:
Increasing the fees and costs
Implementing monetization features, pushing the main functions to the background
A declining service, often pushing towards a channel not preferred by the users
Exploiting the information of the users to their own benefit
Suddenly, your Facebook feed is no longer filled with posts from your friends. Netflix removes the option to share accounts, and Adobe ensures you no longer “own” the software, but merely rent it.
While the original value of the product or platform declines, the users tolerate such changes since they can still perform the task that made them switch to the product in the first place. These changes are comparable to flies buzzing around your food; you’re still going to eat, but the process has become more annoying and less appealing.