# network effect (threshold)

*Ordinarily means:* the value of a thing increases when more people use it.

a change in a parameter that crosses a wall only when a previous state had already made the whole exceed its parts.

- Computed level: L14 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: review  ·  Domain: network.system  ·  Arena: system.organized

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [parameter](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-parameter.condition), [wall](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-wall.range-end), [whole](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-whole.complete), [part](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-part.relation), [threshold](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-threshold.boundary)

**Through:** interaction.process

**Novel properties:**
- greater-than-the-sum.excess

## Examples
- The fax machine became widely adopted only after enough businesses owned one to make sending faxes useful. *(technology)*
- The 2008 U.S. mortgage market collapsed when home ownership dropped below the threshold needed to sustain lending growth. *(economics)*
- Bluetooth headphones replaced wired ones only after a critical mass of smartphones removed headphone jacks. *(consumer electronics)*

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*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-network-effect.threshold*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-network-effect.threshold.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*