Does your business have a rapid orgy response unit?; Amazon as bully uncle: Best of the Web

The secret to Airbnb’s freakishly rapid orgy response: “Scenario planning”. Yes, there is a business story in here. On FastCompany, Austin Carr explores how Airbnb used strategic thinking to prepare the business for just such an occurrence.

“He and Chesky came up with a game plan for how to respond to a range of incidents,” Carr says.

“The aim was to make sure its hosts and guests feel safe and cared for in any situation.”

Cheap words: Amazon is good for customers but is it good for books? George Packer charts Amazon’s rise to global dominance and argues the online behemoth has destroyed the publishing industry as it has reinvented it.

“Publishers are less like abused minors and more like financially insecure adults who rely on the support of a bullying uncle,” he says. “Their dependence breeds bad faith.”

As Amazon spreads its tentacles into an increasing number of product categories, the fate of the publishing industry is a cautionary tale.

On Instagram, a bazaar where you least expected it. Instagram wasn’t designed as an e-commerce site, but in The New York Times Jenna Wortham argues the social network can offer shoppers the thrill of discovery.