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You know your brand is toxic when a generic/faceless version of your product would have been received better. Someone else here mentioned that it should have be

You know your brand is toxic when a generic/faceless version of your product would have been received better. Someone else here mentioned that it should have been "Instagram Portal", which I totally agree with, or maybe even better: "WhatsApp Portal". It seems like Facebook is trying to resuscitate its reputation by releasing this obviously invasive device and swearing on a stack of bibles that they won't touch the data. That's not how it works though. Once people realize you're an untrustworthy megacorp who's mining and selling data, there's nothing you can do to disprove it except get out of the data game altogether; the cat is already out of the bag.

Zelphyr 7y ago
I wonder how much they're interested in resuscitating their reputation with this product vs hoe much they're interested in targeting a demographic they may not have had a lot of in roads into. A demographic that has time and money to spend: the Baby Boomer generation and older. They're generally not technically savvy like the generations after them so Facebook built a device that all they have to do is talk to. Every time I see an ad for Facebook Portal it includes a person from that demographic. Meanwhile, Facebook gets to suck up all that valuable data they so lust for and start selling ads to the elderly Portal users. I thought it was bad that my parents friends are falling for scams and buying too much stuff on QVC. I don't think they stand a chance at Facebook targeting them. I hate that I'm so cynical about this. I really do. But Facebook has proven time and again all they care about is our data to sell to advertisers. So I can't help but see any new products of theirs through that lens.
YourMatt 7y ago
I don't think a generic version would have ever caught my attention at all. I'd think Instagram's jumped the shark if they branded it with that. Like, that would just sound like a photo frame that only shows IG posts or something; I'd roll my eyes and move on. I don't know anything about WhatsApp other than people were hacked or something. For non-tech folks, I think the Facebook brand great. They chat with friends and family with Facebook messenger. This must be where they can make video calls to those same people. You get it just by seeing the name and the product together.

Zelphyr 7y ago

I wonder how much they're interested in resuscitating their reputation with this product vs hoe much they're interested in targeting a demographic they may not have had a lot of in roads into. A demographic that has time and money to spend: the Baby Boomer generation and older. They're generally not technically savvy like the generations after them so Facebook built a device that all they have to do is talk to. Every time I see an ad for Facebook Portal it includes a person from that demographic. Meanwhile, Facebook gets to suck up all that valuable data they so lust for and start selling ads to the elderly Portal users. I thought it was bad that my parents friends are falling for scams and buying too much stuff on QVC. I don't think they stand a chance at Facebook targeting them. I hate that I'm so cynical about this. I really do. But Facebook has proven time and again all they care about is our data to sell to advertisers. So I can't help but see any new products of theirs through that lens.

YourMatt 7y ago

I don't think a generic version would have ever caught my attention at all. I'd think Instagram's jumped the shark if they branded it with that. Like, that would just sound like a photo frame that only shows IG posts or something; I'd roll my eyes and move on. I don't know anything about WhatsApp other than people were hacked or something. For non-tech folks, I think the Facebook brand great. They chat with friends and family with Facebook messenger. This must be where they can make video calls to those same people. You get it just by seeing the name and the product together.