Editing Metcalfe's law (section)

==Network effects==
Metcalfe's law characterizes many of the [[network effect]]s of communication technologies and networks such as the [[Internet]], [[social networking]] and the [[World Wide Web]]. Former Chairman of the U.S. [[Federal Communications Commission]] [[Reed Hundt]] said that this law gives the most understanding to the workings of the present-day Internet.<ref name="Briscoe Odlyzko Tilly">{{cite journal |url= https://spectrum.ieee.org/metcalfes-law-is-wrong |title=Metcalfe's Law is Wrong |first1=Bob |last1=Briscoe |first2=Andrew |last2=Odlyzko |author2-link=Andrew Odlyzko |first3=Benjamin |last3=Tilly |date=July 2006 |journal=[[IEEE Spectrum]] |volume=43 |issue=7 |pages=34–39 |doi=10.1109/MSPEC.2006.1653003 |s2cid=45462851 |access-date=15 September 2022}}</ref> Mathematically, Metcalfe's Law shows that the number of unique possible connections in an <math>n</math>-node connection can be expressed as the [[triangular number]] <math>n(n-1)/2</math>, which is [[Big O notation|asymptotically]] proportional to <math>n^2</math>.

The law has often been illustrated using the example of [[fax]] machines: a single fax machine on its own is useless, but the value of every fax machine increases with the total number of fax machines in the network, because the total number of people with whom each user may send and receive documents increases.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Tongia |first1=Rahul |last2=Wilson |first2=E. J. |date=2011-04-08 |title=Network Theory{{!}} The Flip Side of Metcalfe's Law: Multiple and Growing Costs of Network Exclusion |journal=International Journal of Communication|s2cid=153848093 }}</ref> This is common illustration to explain [[network effect]]. Thus, in any social network, the greater the number of users with the service, the more valuable the service becomes to the community.