Jim Rutt, a seasoned technologist and former CEO of Network Solutions, describes the 'network effect' as a powerful economic phenomenon where the value or utility of a product or service increases as more people use it. This self-reinforcing mechanism leads to exponential growth and market dominance, transforming fledgling innovations into indispensable platforms. He emphasizes that network effects drive the success of social media, telecommunications, and technology ecosystems by enhancing user experience and engagement as participation scales. Rutt notes that understanding this principle is crucial for recognizing how entities like Facebook, Uber, and other digital networks achieve rapid and sustained growth, creating a barrier to entry that is difficult for competitors to overcome.

See also: emergence, social network, collective intelligence, game theory