The Platformization of Everything: From the End of the Like Button to AI Infrastructure in Space

Abstract

A decade after the term was coined, “platformization” has evolved from describing the infrastructural expansion of platforms into other domains to capturing a broader transformation in how platforms organize (digital) life. This article traces this shift from the early social web to today’s AI-centered platform models. The retirement of Facebook’s Like button and Google’s “Suncatcher” space-based AI initiative are used as illustrative examples to demonstrate how platforms continually adapt their expansion strategies. Although the concept has been productively adopted across disciplines, its frequent conflation with the term “digitization” has led to conceptual erosion, weakening its analytical precision. To reclaim its explanatory power, this article redefines platformization as a form of platform-specific “transcoding”: a situated process whereby practices and domains are made “platform-ready.”