Borrow the audience.
Platforms can be excellent at finding people.
FROM THE BIC TOOLKITSmall useful things built in response to a slightly broken internet.
DIAGNOSE / ARTEFACT 006
Platform
Dependency
Calculator
How much of your audience, traffic and revenue depends on platforms you do not control?
Platforms are useful. Dependency is the risky bit.Calculate my dependency ↓No login. No analytics connection. Nothing you enter leaves your browser.HOW DEPENDENT IS YOUR BUSINESS ON PLATFORMS?
Rented land is fine. Just don’t build the whole town on it.
Google, Meta, Amazon, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, app stores and marketplaces can all be brilliant ways to reach people. The risk appears when one becomes the only reliable route.
Build the relationship.
Websites, direct customers, permission-based audiences and portable data give you options when the rules change.
WORKSHOP ARTEFACT 006BIC PLATFORM DEPENDENCY MODEL V1
THE OUTPUT
Your options will appear here.
Get a dependency score, its inverse resilience score, your biggest risk, strongest protection and three practical actions.
WHAT DOES YOUR DEPENDENCY SCORE MEAN?
It measures exposure. Not moral goodness.
A low score does not mean “avoid platforms”. A high score does not mean failure is imminent.
It shows how much of the current business depends on access controlled by other organisations — and how many useful options remain if that access changes.
- 0–19Low dependency
You have options.
- 20–39Manageable
Some rented land, but decent foundations.
- 40–59Exposed
A platform change would hurt.
- 60–79High dependency
Too many eggs in somebody else’s algorithm.
- 80–100Platform hostage
The landlord has the keys.
HOW THE PLATFORM DEPENDENCY CALCULATOR WORKS
BIC Platform Dependency Model v1.
This is a directional diagnostic, not a financial-risk model. The weighting reflects how directly a business controls continued access to each channel and relationship.
Eight components total 100 points. Higher points mean greater dependency. Your resilience score is simply 100 minus the dependency score.
Channel dependency
Your acquisition mix is weighted from direct visits (0.05) and email/CRM (0.10), through referrals (0.40) and organic search (0.65), to paid, social, AI and marketplace channels (0.75–1.00).
Single-platform concentration
A separate stepped score distinguishes a diversified channel from one dominated by a single provider.
Revenue exposure
Your estimated short-term revenue exposure is multiplied by 0.15.
Owned audience
Direct reach reduces risk. Permission-based contacts count; followers do not.
Portability and direct access
Can you retain what matters, and can customers still reach the core offer through a route you control?
Relationship and continuity
Could you contact customers and continue operating through a 30-day platform outage?
See every channel risk multiplier
Direct / typed / bookmarks0.05
Email / CRM / newsletter0.10
Referrals / partners / affiliates0.40
Organic search0.65
AI assistants / answer engines0.75
Paid search0.80
Organic social0.85
Other external platforms0.85
Paid social0.90
Marketplaces / app stores1.00
WHY BIC BUILT THIS
Independence can be surprisingly rented.
The internet is full of businesses that look independent but depend on a handful of platforms for discovery, customers or revenue.
That can work brilliantly — until the rules change. This calculator is a quick way to see where your exposure sits and what you could own more directly.
PLATFORM DEPENDENCY CALCULATOR FAQS
The useful questions behind the score.
What is platform dependency?
Platform dependency is the extent to which a business relies on external platforms it does not control for discovery, customers, distribution, transactions or audience access.
Is Google organic traffic platform dependency?
Yes, partially. Your website may be owned, but access to search visibility is controlled by the search engine. Organic search is therefore less dependent than selling entirely through a marketplace, but more dependent than direct visits or a permission-based customer list.
Are social media followers an owned audience?
No. They can be valuable, but the platform controls access, reach and account availability. Here, an owned audience means people you can contact directly through a relationship you control and have permission to use.
Does a high score mean I should stop using platforms?
No. The objective is not to abandon productive channels. It is to reduce concentration risk by building additional routes to customers and stronger direct relationships.
What is an owned channel?
Examples include your own website, direct traffic, permission-based email or CRM relationships, customer data you can legitimately retain and export, and products or assets that remain usable outside a third-party platform.
How accurate is the calculator?
It is a directional diagnostic based on the estimates you enter and BIC’s published weighting. It is designed to expose concentration and prompt useful questions, not predict financial loss.
What should I do if most of my business comes from one platform?
Do not necessarily shrink the platform that works. Start growing a credible second route and, where appropriate, turn more platform-acquired customers into direct or repeat relationships.