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No, people left because a large enough percentage of their friends and coworkers did. That's how walled gardens work: exclusivity demands participation.

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you're describing the "network effect". but it only happens once people actually move away from certain platforms. why did they move away? features that couldn't be implemented using a shared standard.

"move away" is a tenuous assertion. If someone puts the majority of new content on another platform, is that "moving away"? What if they only use the old platform once a week? What if they only use the new platform once a week, but that's when an important discussion happens?

No one moved away from email.

> If someone puts the majority of new content on another platform, is that "moving away"?

yes.

> What if they only use the old platform once a week? What if they only use the new platform once a week, but that's when an important discussion happens?

you’re describing low usage.

My point is that it's still the network effect, even when the old platform still has active users.

Nobody left email, yet the network effect is still very present in that space.

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