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Before everyone starts painting bleak picture, reminder: Facebook's Sandberg announced last week or so that they are going to do accelerated hiring spree this y

• ronyeh 7y ago
  A lot of people are on Facebook and Instagram all day, stalking friends because there is not much else to do. There are only so many Google searches I can do in a day. Many of them end on Amazon where I may or may not purchase something.
  • deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  • hobofan 7y ago
    It doesn't matter much if they spend much time on their platforms now if advertisers stop advertising everywhere.
    • csallen 7y ago
      Exactly right. For example, many media organizations right now are reporting record traffic numbers, but are struggling to make ends meet as advertisers pull out.
      • Robelius 7y ago
        Is there actually any numbers people can point towards? I’ve read similar comments over different forum postings about advertisers tending to cut advertising during times like these to help their financials. And it makes sense to me. But now I’m sitting here, just wondering if anyone has actually looked at numbers during other financial downturns. Or is it just some catching conversation that’s been kicking off....maybe I need to go outside and smell some fresh air.
        • tpxl 7y ago
          There have been a couple of articles recently about this: "L.A. Times to Furlough Workers as Ad Revenue ‘Nearly Eliminated’" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22872711 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22872711 "As YouTube traffic soars, YouTubers say pay is plummeting" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22856324 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22856324
        • deleted 7y ago
          [deleted]
        • hobofan 7y ago
          Even apart from the advertisement coming from the platform, most creators (podcast/Youtube) that I follow report that their direct ad placements have basically dropped to 0 and the only ones they have running now were negotiated pre-pandemic.
        • samspenc 7y ago
          WSJ: Facebook Usage Soars, But Online Advertising Plunges https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-warns-that-skyrocketing-usage-wont-lead-to-increased-revenue-11585083493 https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-warns-that-skyrocketin... WSJ: Facebook Ad Rates Fall as Coronavirus Undermines Spending https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-ad-rates-fall-as-coronavirus-undermines-spending-11586530801 https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-ad-rates-fall-as-coron... Bloomberg: Facebook’s Ads Business Weakening Despite Surge in Usage https://www.bloombergquint.com/technology/facebook-says-ads-business-weakening-despite-surge-in-usage https://www.bloombergquint.com/technology/facebook-says-ads-...
    • Bombthecat 7y ago
      People are not working, hence no money. (less money to spent) advertising doesn't make much sense except your target are the wealthy working (or not working class)
  • Insanity 7y ago
    But YouTube traffic must have increased, and Android app usage as well.. Google is more than a search engine
    • dannyw 7y ago
      YouTube is maybe... <10% of Google? Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp... is >90% of Facebook.
    • cruano 7y ago
      Traffic yes, a lot People advertising on youtube is the problem, that number is only going down
• Karishma1234 7y ago
  Google has too many projects, from wifi on Indian railways stations to dozens of messengers to a virtual phone service. Some of these units are going to suffer and I expect them to shut down. These people will then move to other more important areas. I do not expect google's search business to go down.
• godzillabrennus 7y ago
  I don’t understand it either. Facebook may well be the worlds most powerful sentiment capture and analysis engine ever built but Google tracks conversions and has pretty stellar sentiment capture/analysis capabilities. Google appears to also have twice as much cash on hand as Facebook. Wonder what they’ll use it for if not to hire competent people to prevent them from starting the next big thing...
  • autokad 7y ago
    its got me baffled. I wonder if this changed consumer behavior in such a way that it benefits facebook ads and detracts from google. I dont understand it, but it appears to be the message we are seeing
  • ardit33 7y ago
    tik tok.... they have a real competitive threat, and probably want to make sure when the recession is over, they are still the #1 in social space Also, back in 2008, Google didn't hire/freezed its hiring, but Facebook and Amazon were still hiring like mad, and it worked well for them. They are used to ride out recessions.
    • pieterk 7y ago
      bingo. facebook needs to build the next Tik Tok or they’ll lose
  • yairchu 7y ago
    Facebook runs a lot more political ads than Google and it’s commercial ads that are halting.
    • phreeza 7y ago
      Political ads make up a small fraction of overall ad spend though.
• smt88 7y ago
  > both depend on ads True, but their value to advertisers depends on users. Facebook is likely seeing a massive spike in (ad-viewing) users, whereas Google a much more modest one. I'm sure Google Search and YouTube have gone up, but the former won't have gone up much, and the latter has not yet been profitable for Google in the first place. > I'm wondering why one is tightening the belt and other is moving full speed on expansion Neither needs to tighten belts. Both have enormous amounts of cash.
• mike_d 7y ago
  > Sandberg announced last week or so that they are going to do accelerated hiring spree That was a message to the stock market. In reality I haven't heard from a Facebook recruiter in a month now.
  • echelon 7y ago
    As an anecdote, I got an email from a Facebook recruiter yesterday. They're still hiring, though I'm not sure at what rate and for how long.
  • whateveracct 7y ago
    I've heard from at least 2 since the lockdown began, so anecdata all around :)
  • RivieraKid 7y ago
    Lying would be illegal...
  • Infinitesimus 7y ago
    Heard from 2 recently so they're certainly still hiring and hiring fast
  • edanm 7y ago
    Not sure why RivieraKid was getting downvoted - there's no "just a message to the stock market". Lying in this context would be illegal, and would open FB up to shareholders suing the company IMO.
    • perl4ever 7y ago
      I'm not a securities lawyer, but I would assume that there is little deterrence for "sending a message to the stock market" with statements about hopes, plans, or predictions for the future. As long as there's nothing definitively false as of the moment you say it... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forward-looking_statement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forward-looking_statement
• _pmf_ 7y ago
  Content moderators for the election to make sure Uncle Joe wins?
• Abishek_Muthian 7y ago
  Besides New Hiring, I would be impressed if large companies honour their existing job offers; Which IT services firms which does bulk recruiting in India seem to be doing. IT firms such as TCS (30,000 recruits this financial year), Wipro (12,000), Cognizant (20,000) and Capgemini (10,000 over January-June) say they are sticking by their offer letters[1]. I've personally witnessed jobs from these companies lift several out of poverty in India (Most of them being the first graduate in their family). But, obviously those who pass out this year especially the Engineering freshers are going to be the worst hit. [1]https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/many-large-cos-will-honour-hiring-pledge/articleshow/75130399.cms https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/...
  • 9nGQluzmnq3M 7y ago
    For bean counters looking to cut costs, outsourcing to India is going to look pretty attractive. Especially since the actual costs of doing this will only become apparent later...
    • mywittyname 7y ago
      I'm not sure if this will happen again so soon. Mostly because it seems like wages in technology flattened or even declined on the low-end due to the glut of college graduates capable of filling these roles. I see lots of applicants with non-CS/CE degrees applying for programming and analytics positions.
  • eitally 7y ago
    Part of Sundar's letter says Google is honoring existing job offers.
• m0zg 7y ago
  Should be easier for FB and Amazon to fill those positions now that Google is not sucking as much air from the atmosphere. I think Google may come to regret its decision for this reason. Part of the reason for these companies to hire is "area denial": the employee is not only hired to do great things, but also to prevent them from doing great things for a competitor. If you stop hiring, you allow a lower-paying competitor like Amazon or Microsoft to scoop up the engineers that would previously be inaccessible to them.
• llarsson 7y ago
  One of the best offensive strategies you can have is to make sure all talented people work for you, rather than the competition. If smaller companies and startups fade away due to coronavirus-induced instability, making sure that their talent winds up with you is a smart move. If you are big enough to afford it, that is, which both of these companies arguably are -- regardless of whether their Q1 and Q2(?) results are worse this year than last.
  • matwood 7y ago
    Even if startups don't fade away, uncertain times means people look for stability. Unless a startup is in one of the sectors benefiting from the lockdown, top talent is likely looking to leave for stability at one of the big players. Which will just accelerate the fall of marginal startups or those struggling.
  • mywittyname 7y ago
    Plus, I bet they are getting these engineers much cheaper right now and presumably, that cost savings will continue indefinitely.
• imprettycool 7y ago
  If I were to guess, Facebook's recruiting pipeline is centralized. Whether or not to hire is done at the executive level. When Facebook hires someone, they are first a "Facebook employee", go through the bootcamp, and decide on a team 1-2 months into the job. Google on the other hand, the recruiting pipeline is more spread out. Whether or not to hire is done at the organizational level (i.e. Cloud, Ads, Search, Core, etc), and that depends on whether or not there are openings in any teams. You are matched with a team before you are even hired. So, like, obviously, if you have the cash to burn, now is the right time to hire employees. You can get good talent pretty cheap right now. So it's in Google's best interest to ramp up hiring. Unfortunately Google's recruiting pipeline does not support hiring a bunch of people and figuring out what team to be on later. So yeah, basically, Google has shitty hiring practices. It has nothing to do with them "losing money", they have so much cash in the bank which will easily last till this is over.
  • comzilla 7y ago
    Going by your words, Google’s hiring process seems to be hurting them right now (which makes sense). But what are the benefits of hiring this way over Facebook’s style? (or rather where does centralized hiring fall short?)
    • imprettycool 7y ago
      I always thought it was just political/bureaucratic cruft nobody bothered to fix, because they're Google, and they can have the shittiest interview process in the world and it wouldn't really matter. It seems inferior in every way to Facebook's process. Even outside of this Coronavirus thing they lose out on a lot of good talent because of how long it takes