- convenience
- network effects; the tech becomes more valuable as more people use it
- however, the tech also needs to be useful when just one or a few people use it
- virality; users of the tech have a tendency to spread awareness of it
- "stickiness"; users of the tech have a tendency to use it frequently
- change function (perceived crisis vs. perceived cost of switching)
- publicity/distribution (it's easier to get publicity for trendy things, hence trends)
- simplicity of explanation (often a function of what the audience already knows, hence technologies "before their time")
- allows everyone needed to produce/provide the tech to sustain themselves, i.e. "viable business model"
- provides incentive to everyone needed to produce/provide the tech; could be in the form of:
- a good business model
- they get rich, or
- they have more certainty of continuity
- altruism (the tech makes the world a better place)
- socialogical
- stick it to the man
- become famous
- platform-ness: something that is a platform that others build upon develops an 'ecosystem' of related projects, increasing the chance that the base can find an alternative means of support if necessary
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