4 ms·

I did have a hard time taking any of what he wrote seriously. It was not thought provoking for me and I felt it wasn’t deep or interesting. It’s interesting in

I did have a hard time taking any of what he wrote seriously. It was not thought provoking for me and I felt it wasn’t deep or interesting. It’s interesting in the sense that it is useful to know where FB may be headed, but when I think of Facebook all I see is another advertising company looking for more ways to put ads in front of captive eyeballs.

nikolay 7y ago
One thing I can't understand is why Facebook is still around. But, at the same time, Twitter is still around, too. I guess people got tired switching platforms.
- atdt 7y ago
  The vast majority of users have never known other platforms.
- paganel 7y ago
  Because they also purchased IG and WhatsApp and because their messaging app is reasonably successful (in parts because they didn’t add groups to IG messaging, otherwise younger folks would have been even more eager to leave FB). As far as I can tell the main FB app/website has been pretty much deserted by younger people.
- AndrewDucker 7y ago
  If I want to communicate with a bunch of my friends, going back 30 years, it's where I have to go. I could, I guess, go back to running mailing lists or manual methods of keeping track of contact details and sending things directly to people. But short of that there's no easier way for me to keep up with friends who are distributed around the planet.
  - pferde 7y ago
    What's wrong with keeping contact details and sending things directly to people?
    - balladeer 7y ago
      Nothing. People just find other means more convenient and for some reason are willing to sacrifice their privacy in return. Also, by names and college and work you can find people on these social platforms even if you lost their contact long back.
    - darkwater 7y ago
      Basically, it's more difficult/tedious to do. Facebook lowered the cost opportunity of this for the vast majority of people (you and others excluded, obviously).
    - Erlich_Bachman 7y ago
      The UX of that process you describe (without something like facebook) sucks. It's surprising you haven't realized this once you've tried to do that for more than say ~10 people in the list. If the UX sucks, it means it takes more time and energy to do the same thing, it means that I will not be doing the same thing, I will end up sending to less people or less information. Which means that facebook effectively allows new types of communication which would otherwise not even exist.
      - yawboakye 7y ago
        It is the low cost of Facebook (and social media) messaging that makes me not use it to send messages to people I love and care about. I still call them on the phone. When it comes to relationships, my communication theory is simple: the cost of the medium is the information. Goes without saying in this setting, there's only few people I call "friends."
        Erlich_Bachman 7y ago
        If you have more than a handful of people that you wish to meaningfully connect with - facebook is a great tool. I know personally many people including myself that both use calls, emails, chat messages - and yes, facebook - all with the same people. They are just geared towards different kinds and modes of communication. The notion that I have to use phone exclusively to communicate with someone to call them "friends" seems very dated to me personally. It probably works for someone else. (But I mean the numbers show that a lot of people do indeed find facebook useful, it is not that popular for no reason.) It's about the connection itself, it's about the energy and attention one puts into the relationship, not whether one allows oneself to use facebook for it or not.
- taneq 7y ago
  Because they actually solve a real problem for a majority of their users? I mean I get it, I'm on the hate train too but their actual product (the Facebook web site) provides a useful service. It allows me to share a bunch of stuff with a bunch of groups of people who I want to stay in touch with, in a low friction manner. Pretending Facebook is useless is like pretending GM doesn't make cars. Sure, maybe you don't like GM cars but they fill a genuine need for a lot of people.
  - Integrape 7y ago
    But, GM doesn't make cars. https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/26/business/gm-cars-dropping-production/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/26/business/gm-cars-dropping-pro...
- artificialidiot 7y ago
  low effort intelligence collection. I wouldn't mind "investing" into those companies if I were an agency employing who are basically incompetent crooks.
  - mr__y 7y ago
    if you manage to convince almost entire population to use an app that you can easily tap to I wouldn't call that "incompetent"
- DrAwdeOccarim 7y ago
  Twitter is heavily used in biotech for news and discussions, surprisingly. It's where nearly all of it breaks.
- steve76 7y ago
  Replaces the phone book? If I knew that, I really wish I didn't do stuff to get banned! Nothing really bad. More clownish than anything.
- toper-centage 7y ago
  While I don't actively use Facebook the way I use twitter, I've kept my account for messenging because its the only way to keep in touch with old friends and family. People change numbers, names, locations. Facebook is my Phonebook, in a way.
Aeolun 7y ago
To be honest, I’m always a little bit happy to see him writing something and have it come off as a bit awkward. I don’t feel so bad about my own writing style when I think that the CEO of a multibillion dollar company is the same :)

nikolay 7y ago

One thing I can't understand is why Facebook is still around. But, at the same time, Twitter is still around, too. I guess people got tired switching platforms.

atdt 7y ago
The vast majority of users have never known other platforms.
paganel 7y ago
Because they also purchased IG and WhatsApp and because their messaging app is reasonably successful (in parts because they didn’t add groups to IG messaging, otherwise younger folks would have been even more eager to leave FB). As far as I can tell the main FB app/website has been pretty much deserted by younger people.
AndrewDucker 7y ago
If I want to communicate with a bunch of my friends, going back 30 years, it's where I have to go. I could, I guess, go back to running mailing lists or manual methods of keeping track of contact details and sending things directly to people. But short of that there's no easier way for me to keep up with friends who are distributed around the planet.
- pferde 7y ago
  What's wrong with keeping contact details and sending things directly to people?
  - balladeer 7y ago
    Nothing. People just find other means more convenient and for some reason are willing to sacrifice their privacy in return. Also, by names and college and work you can find people on these social platforms even if you lost their contact long back.
  - darkwater 7y ago
    Basically, it's more difficult/tedious to do. Facebook lowered the cost opportunity of this for the vast majority of people (you and others excluded, obviously).
  - Erlich_Bachman 7y ago
    The UX of that process you describe (without something like facebook) sucks. It's surprising you haven't realized this once you've tried to do that for more than say ~10 people in the list. If the UX sucks, it means it takes more time and energy to do the same thing, it means that I will not be doing the same thing, I will end up sending to less people or less information. Which means that facebook effectively allows new types of communication which would otherwise not even exist.
    - yawboakye 7y ago
      It is the low cost of Facebook (and social media) messaging that makes me not use it to send messages to people I love and care about. I still call them on the phone. When it comes to relationships, my communication theory is simple: the cost of the medium is the information. Goes without saying in this setting, there's only few people I call "friends."
      - Erlich_Bachman 7y ago
        If you have more than a handful of people that you wish to meaningfully connect with - facebook is a great tool. I know personally many people including myself that both use calls, emails, chat messages - and yes, facebook - all with the same people. They are just geared towards different kinds and modes of communication. The notion that I have to use phone exclusively to communicate with someone to call them "friends" seems very dated to me personally. It probably works for someone else. (But I mean the numbers show that a lot of people do indeed find facebook useful, it is not that popular for no reason.) It's about the connection itself, it's about the energy and attention one puts into the relationship, not whether one allows oneself to use facebook for it or not.
taneq 7y ago
Because they actually solve a real problem for a majority of their users? I mean I get it, I'm on the hate train too but their actual product (the Facebook web site) provides a useful service. It allows me to share a bunch of stuff with a bunch of groups of people who I want to stay in touch with, in a low friction manner. Pretending Facebook is useless is like pretending GM doesn't make cars. Sure, maybe you don't like GM cars but they fill a genuine need for a lot of people.
- Integrape 7y ago
  But, GM doesn't make cars. https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/26/business/gm-cars-dropping-production/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/26/business/gm-cars-dropping-pro...
artificialidiot 7y ago
low effort intelligence collection. I wouldn't mind "investing" into those companies if I were an agency employing who are basically incompetent crooks.
- mr__y 7y ago
  if you manage to convince almost entire population to use an app that you can easily tap to I wouldn't call that "incompetent"
DrAwdeOccarim 7y ago
Twitter is heavily used in biotech for news and discussions, surprisingly. It's where nearly all of it breaks.
steve76 7y ago
Replaces the phone book? If I knew that, I really wish I didn't do stuff to get banned! Nothing really bad. More clownish than anything.
toper-centage 7y ago
While I don't actively use Facebook the way I use twitter, I've kept my account for messenging because its the only way to keep in touch with old friends and family. People change numbers, names, locations. Facebook is my Phonebook, in a way.

Aeolun 7y ago

To be honest, I’m always a little bit happy to see him writing something and have it come off as a bit awkward. I don’t feel so bad about my own writing style when I think that the CEO of a multibillion dollar company is the same :)