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Sure, the technical barrier isn't that high anymore. Social and economic barriers though... By subsidising otherwise prohibitively expensive mobile data connec

by _tulpa 9y ago

Sure, the technical barrier isn't that high anymore. Social and economic barriers though... By subsidising otherwise prohibitively expensive mobile data connections for Facebook traffic only, Facebook has become the internet in many countries. Facebook have their app preinstalled by pretty much every Android vendor. As a system app that you can't remove. Other services require you to have a Facebook account to login, there aren't many services that devs trust for this. Competing with something this deeply entrenched would be difficult, and doing that with ethical limitations that they don't have is damn near impossible.

Lionsion 9y ago
> By subsidising otherwise prohibitively expensive mobile data connections for Facebook traffic only, Facebook has become the internet in many countries. I like to see how much revenue Facebook gets from those countries vs. the US and Western Europe. > Competing with something this deeply entrenched would be difficult I don't think anything you listed makes FB so entrenched that's it's invulnerable. Facebook's big strengths are network effects and its pile of cash, but its weakness is that it's a leisure item in a somewhat trend-driven market. All the money in the world can't keep something fashionable forever.
- _tulpa 9y ago
  > I like to see how much revenue Facebook gets from those countries vs. the US and Western Europe. That's not even the point, even if they're loosing money at the moment it's almost certainly worth it to capture those new users. > All the money in the world can't keep something fashionable forever. Facebook isn't fashionable or trendy, myspace et al took that angle which is why they're gone now, and also that's missing the point again. Facebook is a social utility that a crapload of people can't live without. I have friends who I can't even contact without using facebook/messenger/whatsapp, and this is in a country where mobile data is cheap and SMS/phone calls are basically free. Go to a place where facebook-subsidised connections are the only option that people can actually afford and your only alternative is basically social suicide. I don't think many people truly grasp the scale and pervasiveness of Facebook and how there just isn't anything that is even remotely close to competing.
  - Lionsion 9y ago
    > That's not even the point, even if they're loosing money at the moment it's almost certainly worth it to capture those new users. > Go to a place where facebook-subsidised connections are the only option that people can actually afford and your only alternative is basically social suicide. It's relevant because a new competitor can target the more valuable developed-country users. FB being so dominant that it's "the internet" in some undeveloped countries is not a barrier to that. > Facebook is a social utility that a crapload of people can't live without. That's not true. There are very few people who can legally use FB who were born after it was created. There are also a crapload of people who are totally off it who get along fine. > I have friends who I can't even contact without using facebook/messenger/whatsapp I do to, but they're not people who I actually want or need to contact regularly. Also, I'm pretty sure if you can contact someone on Whatsapp you can contact them without it. It's keyed on phone numbers, so you could always go back to texting. > don't think many people truly grasp the scale and pervasiveness of Facebook and how there just isn't anything that is even remotely close to competing. I don't agree you can infer longevity from present ubiquity. I don't think the social barriers that are protecting Facebook are as high as you think they are. To reiterate my point... >> I don't think anything you listed makes FB so entrenched that's it's invulnerable. Facebook's big strengths are network effects and its pile of cash, but its weakness is that it's a leisure item in a somewhat trend-driven market. All the money in the world can't keep something fashionable forever. Facebook can't demand user-exclusivity in developed markets, so its network effect strengths are vulnerable to attack. If it can't continually acquire the competitors that threaten to replace it, it will wither and die as its core app becomes unfashionable and superseded by shinier messaging and social broadcast platforms.

by _tulpa 9y ago

Lionsion 9y ago

> By subsidising otherwise prohibitively expensive mobile data connections for Facebook traffic only, Facebook has become the internet in many countries. I like to see how much revenue Facebook gets from those countries vs. the US and Western Europe. > Competing with something this deeply entrenched would be difficult I don't think anything you listed makes FB so entrenched that's it's invulnerable. Facebook's big strengths are network effects and its pile of cash, but its weakness is that it's a leisure item in a somewhat trend-driven market. All the money in the world can't keep something fashionable forever.

_tulpa 9y ago
> I like to see how much revenue Facebook gets from those countries vs. the US and Western Europe. That's not even the point, even if they're loosing money at the moment it's almost certainly worth it to capture those new users. > All the money in the world can't keep something fashionable forever. Facebook isn't fashionable or trendy, myspace et al took that angle which is why they're gone now, and also that's missing the point again. Facebook is a social utility that a crapload of people can't live without. I have friends who I can't even contact without using facebook/messenger/whatsapp, and this is in a country where mobile data is cheap and SMS/phone calls are basically free. Go to a place where facebook-subsidised connections are the only option that people can actually afford and your only alternative is basically social suicide. I don't think many people truly grasp the scale and pervasiveness of Facebook and how there just isn't anything that is even remotely close to competing.
- Lionsion 9y ago
  > That's not even the point, even if they're loosing money at the moment it's almost certainly worth it to capture those new users. > Go to a place where facebook-subsidised connections are the only option that people can actually afford and your only alternative is basically social suicide. It's relevant because a new competitor can target the more valuable developed-country users. FB being so dominant that it's "the internet" in some undeveloped countries is not a barrier to that. > Facebook is a social utility that a crapload of people can't live without. That's not true. There are very few people who can legally use FB who were born after it was created. There are also a crapload of people who are totally off it who get along fine. > I have friends who I can't even contact without using facebook/messenger/whatsapp I do to, but they're not people who I actually want or need to contact regularly. Also, I'm pretty sure if you can contact someone on Whatsapp you can contact them without it. It's keyed on phone numbers, so you could always go back to texting. > don't think many people truly grasp the scale and pervasiveness of Facebook and how there just isn't anything that is even remotely close to competing. I don't agree you can infer longevity from present ubiquity. I don't think the social barriers that are protecting Facebook are as high as you think they are. To reiterate my point... >> I don't think anything you listed makes FB so entrenched that's it's invulnerable. Facebook's big strengths are network effects and its pile of cash, but its weakness is that it's a leisure item in a somewhat trend-driven market. All the money in the world can't keep something fashionable forever. Facebook can't demand user-exclusivity in developed markets, so its network effect strengths are vulnerable to attack. If it can't continually acquire the competitors that threaten to replace it, it will wither and die as its core app becomes unfashionable and superseded by shinier messaging and social broadcast platforms.