32 ms·

Its time to remind everyone that Facebook owns Onavo[1][2] and before any investor realizes, will pick up a product that hits their metrics threshold and buy th

Its time to remind everyone that Facebook owns Onavo[1][2] and before any investor realizes, will pick up a product that hits their metrics threshold and buy them out. [1] https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebooks-onavo-gives-social-media-firm-inside-peek-at-rivals-users-1502622003 https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebooks-onavo-gives-social-me... [2] https://twitter.com/dhh/status/900893798821134336?lang=en https://twitter.com/dhh/status/900893798821134336?lang=en

htormey 9y ago
This is a really good point. I don't think this is necessarily a bad acquisition at all. Onavo is basically Facebooks eye of sauron: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onavo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onavo TBH has been in the top 10 free apps for a few weeks now. FB has a good track record of buying small teams with good engagement numbers and letting them run themselves (Whatsapp/Instagram). I'm sure Facebook looked at their numbers via Onavo and decided they were on a pretty good trajectory. Also, it should be noted that TBH doesn't even have an Android app yet. The question now is will TBH turn out to be more of a draw with friends (flash in the pan game) or have staying power like Bitmoji does. Bitmoji was purchased by Snap Inc for around 100 million about a year ago. It has managed to consistently stay in the top 10 free apps since then: https://techcrunch.com/2016/03/29/snapmoji/ https://techcrunch.com/2016/03/29/snapmoji/
- ghostly_s 9y ago
  > TBH has been in the top 10 free apps for a few weeks now. FB has a good track record of buying small teams with good engagement numbers and letting them run themselves (Whatsapp/Instagram). I can't comment on Whatsapp but I don't think this is an accurate description of Instagram. It took them a while, sure, but today they are most definitely asserting their control as overlords of Instagram even if they 'run themselves'.
  - htormey 9y ago
    Oh so how do you know that? Did they publish some article stating a change in control?
    - w-ll 9y ago
      Anecdotal: Last Instagram update started giving me notifications from Facebook not related to my Ig posts.
- Xunxi 9y ago
  I've never heard of this before, is there an honest review of Onavo out there other than bait for data collection?
  - fasteddie 9y ago
    We used to use them at a previous job -- they had a data product that would tell you what add networks competitor apps were using, their estimated market share in impressions, and what their ad creative was. Was a very useful research tool for digital marketing.
- hobofan 9y ago
  Does Facebook even need Onavo for that? AFAIK any Android app can check which other apps are installed and the names of all other running processes, with little to no permissions. And since the main Facebook app is installed on most devices they can use that to gather the data. Not sure how accurate it is in comparison, but it definitely has a wider reach.
  - pavlov 9y ago
    I guess the point is that owning Onavo gives them access to data about users who specifically are not actively using Facebook -- which is obviously the space where FB would be looking to do defensive acquisitions.
guelo 9y ago
Analytics is the free-social-network type product for app developers. Developers know they are giving all their valuable private data to the behemoths but they can't resist the few crumbs of value that they're given in return.
mcintyre1994 9y ago
This is always interesting when it’s pointed out, but are teenagers in US high schools really using a fake security spyware VPN in high enough volume to give Facebook useful data? Now that I say that, I wonder if they’ve tried marketing it to clueless people via their apps by touting it as a way to improve the security of their accounts or something.
- cududa 9y ago
  Even back in middle school in the early 2000's, credentials to bypass the web blocker or address to a proxy that hadn't been blacklisted yet was a hot commodity - they were mostly sold/ distributed by entirely non-technical kids too.
  - untog 9y ago
    Yes but that was back in the day of locked down desktop machines. Teens have smartphones now, they don't have to care about that.
- htormey 9y ago
  This article is dated and I’ve never used Onavo myself but I think the pitch is it saves you money on your data plan: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.imore.com/onavo-app-claims-shrink-iphones-data-usage-save-money%3famp https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.imore.com/onavo-app-claims-... Teenagers are pretty cheap so I can see the appeal if that’s still true.
  - markdown 9y ago
    You'd think the kind of people who use HN would know better than to share AMP urls. I refuse to click on that URL.
    - if_by_whisky 9y ago
      HN is a diverse community with many views.
quintin 9y ago
More: firms like Sequoia and Accel have tools/or buy similar data. But the more significant point is, Facebook has a pulse on the market and can compete or buy out anyone the moment they see trends that have a considerable potential. This is a paranoia acquisition to kill a future competitor. If this works, and I think it will under FB’s strong leadership, its a win win for the tbh founders and FB. If you care for a non-monopolistic future where privacy is valued, go work for Snapchat and push some sense into them; diversify and acquire companies like this to compete with FB (Even if you don’t like Snapchat).
- codeisawesome 9y ago
  How is a Facebook-Snapchat duopoly better than a Facebook monopoly? Is that the best humanity can do in terms of designing these systems?

htormey 9y ago

This is a really good point. I don't think this is necessarily a bad acquisition at all. Onavo is basically Facebooks eye of sauron: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onavo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onavo TBH has been in the top 10 free apps for a few weeks now. FB has a good track record of buying small teams with good engagement numbers and letting them run themselves (Whatsapp/Instagram). I'm sure Facebook looked at their numbers via Onavo and decided they were on a pretty good trajectory. Also, it should be noted that TBH doesn't even have an Android app yet. The question now is will TBH turn out to be more of a draw with friends (flash in the pan game) or have staying power like Bitmoji does. Bitmoji was purchased by Snap Inc for around 100 million about a year ago. It has managed to consistently stay in the top 10 free apps since then: https://techcrunch.com/2016/03/29/snapmoji/ https://techcrunch.com/2016/03/29/snapmoji/

ghostly_s 9y ago
> TBH has been in the top 10 free apps for a few weeks now. FB has a good track record of buying small teams with good engagement numbers and letting them run themselves (Whatsapp/Instagram). I can't comment on Whatsapp but I don't think this is an accurate description of Instagram. It took them a while, sure, but today they are most definitely asserting their control as overlords of Instagram even if they 'run themselves'.
- htormey 9y ago
  Oh so how do you know that? Did they publish some article stating a change in control?
  - w-ll 9y ago
    Anecdotal: Last Instagram update started giving me notifications from Facebook not related to my Ig posts.
Xunxi 9y ago
I've never heard of this before, is there an honest review of Onavo out there other than bait for data collection?
- fasteddie 9y ago
  We used to use them at a previous job -- they had a data product that would tell you what add networks competitor apps were using, their estimated market share in impressions, and what their ad creative was. Was a very useful research tool for digital marketing.
hobofan 9y ago
Does Facebook even need Onavo for that? AFAIK any Android app can check which other apps are installed and the names of all other running processes, with little to no permissions. And since the main Facebook app is installed on most devices they can use that to gather the data. Not sure how accurate it is in comparison, but it definitely has a wider reach.
- pavlov 9y ago
  I guess the point is that owning Onavo gives them access to data about users who specifically are not actively using Facebook -- which is obviously the space where FB would be looking to do defensive acquisitions.

guelo 9y ago

Analytics is the free-social-network type product for app developers. Developers know they are giving all their valuable private data to the behemoths but they can't resist the few crumbs of value that they're given in return.

mcintyre1994 9y ago

This is always interesting when it’s pointed out, but are teenagers in US high schools really using a fake security spyware VPN in high enough volume to give Facebook useful data? Now that I say that, I wonder if they’ve tried marketing it to clueless people via their apps by touting it as a way to improve the security of their accounts or something.

cududa 9y ago
Even back in middle school in the early 2000's, credentials to bypass the web blocker or address to a proxy that hadn't been blacklisted yet was a hot commodity - they were mostly sold/ distributed by entirely non-technical kids too.
- untog 9y ago
  Yes but that was back in the day of locked down desktop machines. Teens have smartphones now, they don't have to care about that.
htormey 9y ago
This article is dated and I’ve never used Onavo myself but I think the pitch is it saves you money on your data plan: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.imore.com/onavo-app-claims-shrink-iphones-data-usage-save-money%3famp https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.imore.com/onavo-app-claims-... Teenagers are pretty cheap so I can see the appeal if that’s still true.
- markdown 9y ago
  You'd think the kind of people who use HN would know better than to share AMP urls. I refuse to click on that URL.
  - if_by_whisky 9y ago
    HN is a diverse community with many views.

quintin 9y ago

More: firms like Sequoia and Accel have tools/or buy similar data. But the more significant point is, Facebook has a pulse on the market and can compete or buy out anyone the moment they see trends that have a considerable potential. This is a paranoia acquisition to kill a future competitor. If this works, and I think it will under FB’s strong leadership, its a win win for the tbh founders and FB. If you care for a non-monopolistic future where privacy is valued, go work for Snapchat and push some sense into them; diversify and acquire companies like this to compete with FB (Even if you don’t like Snapchat).

codeisawesome 9y ago
How is a Facebook-Snapchat duopoly better than a Facebook monopoly? Is that the best humanity can do in terms of designing these systems?