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When I was in UAE, I remember a telecom company called du provide facebook for free on a website called 0.facebook.com. Basically, it was the normal mobile fac

When I was in UAE, I remember a telecom company called du provide facebook for free on a website called 0.facebook.com. Basically, it was the normal mobile facebook, but without any images (and for some reason, they decided to make it all black and white as well). The funny thing is, I and a lot of my friends switched to du from a much better company just for this service - because for us it was either no internet on our phones, or free facebook - and we chose free facebook. Over time we felt limited and decided to opt for a social package (facebook, twitter, BBM, etc.) but had it not been for the initial free facebook hook - we'd never have bothered with mobile data for a much longer time.

askafriend 10y ago
I want to urge everyone to read and internalize this perspective because it is a genuine one and it is what Facebook is betting will happen with their efforts. Something you shouldn't discount is the value that ohstopitu got from the initial free service that compelled him to upgrade to a larger phone package. Facebook didn't trick ohstopitu, they just showed him/her what was possible. You don't have to agree with the hook, and you may not want to believe that ohstopitu actually derived value from Facebook, but understanding it is far more valuable than mindless pessimism.
- Dylan16807 10y ago
  It's not that users are being tricked, it's that it doesn't deserve to be called "free internet". And if the happy ending here is getting a "social package", and still no real internet access, that's not great either. Limited text-only access can be a great hook without restricting it to a particular site or tiny set of sites.
- Ar-Curunir 10y ago
  The issue is that I'd bet that those in the UAE are much more aware of the choices they have. Facebook was targeting some of the poorest people, and moreover were taking a pretty colonialist view towards things. Not the same scenario.

askafriend 10y ago

I want to urge everyone to read and internalize this perspective because it is a genuine one and it is what Facebook is betting will happen with their efforts. Something you shouldn't discount is the value that ohstopitu got from the initial free service that compelled him to upgrade to a larger phone package. Facebook didn't trick ohstopitu, they just showed him/her what was possible. You don't have to agree with the hook, and you may not want to believe that ohstopitu actually derived value from Facebook, but understanding it is far more valuable than mindless pessimism.

Dylan16807 10y ago
It's not that users are being tricked, it's that it doesn't deserve to be called "free internet". And if the happy ending here is getting a "social package", and still no real internet access, that's not great either. Limited text-only access can be a great hook without restricting it to a particular site or tiny set of sites.
Ar-Curunir 10y ago
The issue is that I'd bet that those in the UAE are much more aware of the choices they have. Facebook was targeting some of the poorest people, and moreover were taking a pretty colonialist view towards things. Not the same scenario.