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I think HN should in particular not feel informed enough to comment on strategic benefit of product decisions like these, because the general HN opinion of FB w

I think HN should in particular not feel informed enough to comment on strategic benefit of product decisions like these, because the general HN opinion of FB which is at such odds at FB's place in society is enough to conclude that HN doesn't really understand FB. HN is a SV or SV-adjacent bubble that takes pride in not having social media profiles and doesn't hesitate in boasting about it in every frigging thread, multiple times a day. In contrast, (b)millions around the world find value in social media every single day and use it for all kinds of applications. I am confident FB understands this much better than people like us here who can't think of any good use cases of social media without presenting 10 riders to assure the crowd that we hate FB.

jhanschoo 7y ago
I don't know enough about FB's realistic position, but it is theoretically better positioned than specialized dating-app companies to provide a better matchmaking service. Specialized dating services fail to provide value to their users once they are no longer in the dating market, whereas FB can continue to get involved in its users' lives post-dating, and arguably moreso when they experience a lifestyle change. For this reason, there is more room for the incentives of FB and those in the dating market to align, and so I welcome this.
mav3rick 7y ago
Totally agree. People on here saying it won't work. The first thing people from other apps check is a potential date's Instagram.
kelnos 7y ago
Agreed, though I would take the (possibly) more charitable interpretation that many HNers get that FB understands the mainstream, but struggle to understand why the mainstream is the way it is. Or they do understand the mainstream, but feel the need to rail against them for what they view as naïveté and short-term thinking. For me, I'm surprised it took FB this long to launch a dating feature. Despite their decline in some demographics, they are still uniquely positioned to do a much more comprehensive (I hesitate to say "better") job of connecting people on the romantic side than a random new dating startup, or even possibly one of the giants like Match. Perhaps they've hesitated for so long because they were afraid FB users would be afraid of mixing their public FB life too closely with their dating life?
asteli 7y ago
I take issue with your characterization of FB non-users on HN boasting about it. I deleted my FB years ago and I would never do such a thing.
- AndrewKemendo 7y ago
  I know we generally discourage humor and satire here but I think this comment nailed it in a very HNesque way.
wortelefant 7y ago
Agreed, I (grudgingly) understood the value of fb during volunteer work. Most grassroots refugee support initiatives were run by non tech savvy people. They created Facebook groups to communicate with people who wanted to help. As there sometimes were right wing attacks against their work, they would not accept anyone into the group with an empty fb profile. They also used it for event planning, there are few alternatives to creating events on fb - meetup.com costs too much and does not have the same reach among volunteers. Similar dynamic with most local sports / dancing groups I know, a fb profile with some group memberships and likes serves as social proof.

jhanschoo 7y ago

I don't know enough about FB's realistic position, but it is theoretically better positioned than specialized dating-app companies to provide a better matchmaking service. Specialized dating services fail to provide value to their users once they are no longer in the dating market, whereas FB can continue to get involved in its users' lives post-dating, and arguably moreso when they experience a lifestyle change. For this reason, there is more room for the incentives of FB and those in the dating market to align, and so I welcome this.

mav3rick 7y ago

Totally agree. People on here saying it won't work. The first thing people from other apps check is a potential date's Instagram.

kelnos 7y ago

Agreed, though I would take the (possibly) more charitable interpretation that many HNers get that FB understands the mainstream, but struggle to understand why the mainstream is the way it is. Or they do understand the mainstream, but feel the need to rail against them for what they view as naïveté and short-term thinking. For me, I'm surprised it took FB this long to launch a dating feature. Despite their decline in some demographics, they are still uniquely positioned to do a much more comprehensive (I hesitate to say "better") job of connecting people on the romantic side than a random new dating startup, or even possibly one of the giants like Match. Perhaps they've hesitated for so long because they were afraid FB users would be afraid of mixing their public FB life too closely with their dating life?

asteli 7y ago

I take issue with your characterization of FB non-users on HN boasting about it. I deleted my FB years ago and I would never do such a thing.

AndrewKemendo 7y ago
I know we generally discourage humor and satire here but I think this comment nailed it in a very HNesque way.

wortelefant 7y ago

Agreed, I (grudgingly) understood the value of fb during volunteer work. Most grassroots refugee support initiatives were run by non tech savvy people. They created Facebook groups to communicate with people who wanted to help. As there sometimes were right wing attacks against their work, they would not accept anyone into the group with an empty fb profile. They also used it for event planning, there are few alternatives to creating events on fb - meetup.com costs too much and does not have the same reach among volunteers. Similar dynamic with most local sports / dancing groups I know, a fb profile with some group memberships and likes serves as social proof.