Direct
Increases in usage lead to direct increases in value. (Examples: Facebook, messaging apps like WeChat and WhatsApp)
Indirect
Increases in usage encourage consumption of complementary goods, which increase the value of the original product. (Example: Adoption of an operating system such as Microsoft Windows, iOS, or Android encourages third-party software developers to build applications, increasing the value of the platform.)
Two-sided
Increases in usage by one set of users increases the value to a different set of complementary users, and vice versa. (Example: Marketplaces such as eBay, Uber, and Airbnb)
Local
Increases in usage by a small subset of users increases the value for a connected user. (Example: Back in the days of metered calls, certain wireless carriers allowed subscribers to specify a limited number of “favorites” whose calls didn’t count against the monthly allotment of call minutes.)
Compatibility and Standards
The use of one technology product encourages the use of compatible products (Example: Within the Microsoft Office suite, Word’s dominance meant that its document file format became the standard; this has allowed it to destroy competitors like WordPerfect and fend off open-source solutions like OpenDocument.)