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Microsoft tried to build a YouTube competitor (Soapbox). Microsoft tried to build a Facebook competitor (Socl). Microsoft bought Yammer. Microsoft bought Linked

Microsoft tried to build a YouTube competitor (Soapbox). Microsoft tried to build a Facebook competitor (Socl). Microsoft bought Yammer. Microsoft bought LinkedIn. Microsoft did build a Slack competitor that seems to be doing well (Teams), after failing to buy Slack. Microsoft bought and ran a Twitch competitor up until just recently (Mixer). Microsoft still seems to have hopes that its Xbox social features are competing as a Facebook or Twitter competitor for very narrow niche of gaming-related sharing. Microsoft hasn't been immune to social media fever, it's just been somewhere between unsuccessful and unlucky. (Which maybe makes it "lucky" for not being on that "hot seat" you describe, but certainly not for lack of trying. Parts of Xbox have been and are on that "hot seat", though.) If Microsoft is thinking anything about TikTok, it's probably that it could get a good deal on a strong competitor in an actively highly competitive social media space. (Whether or not that can translate to success or luck, given Microsoft's track record to date is another question entirely.)

puranjay 6y ago
I mean they have the money and a stock that's nearly doubled in a year, quadrupled in 5 years. A stock and cash deal for a chance at making the next $100B social network doesn't seem all that bad
EdJiang 6y ago
I think Microsoft has a lot of products that can be complimentary to and tie into a broad social media product like TikTok. Some thoughts: * Bing / Ads / AI: Microsoft used to power FB ads after they invested in 2007. GPT-3 has shown that there's a lot that is probably happening within the AI division of these large tech companies. Adding a consumer social media product like TikTok will probably help them test models + gather information to train their models. * LinkedIn / GitHub: Microsoft has two social websites targeted toward the professional crowd. Adding a consumer product may allow them a higher % of coverage of social activity that starts to rival FB and even surpass Google. * Xbox / Minecraft: Consumer brands that have been reasonably successful under Microsoft. Some good tie-ins with TikTok could help boost all three brands.
- marmaduke 6y ago
  You come close to mentioning it but don’t: GPT-3 was trained on Microsoft compute resources (according to the paper).
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

puranjay 6y ago

I mean they have the money and a stock that's nearly doubled in a year, quadrupled in 5 years. A stock and cash deal for a chance at making the next $100B social network doesn't seem all that bad

EdJiang 6y ago

I think Microsoft has a lot of products that can be complimentary to and tie into a broad social media product like TikTok. Some thoughts: * Bing / Ads / AI: Microsoft used to power FB ads after they invested in 2007. GPT-3 has shown that there's a lot that is probably happening within the AI division of these large tech companies. Adding a consumer social media product like TikTok will probably help them test models + gather information to train their models. * LinkedIn / GitHub: Microsoft has two social websites targeted toward the professional crowd. Adding a consumer product may allow them a higher % of coverage of social activity that starts to rival FB and even surpass Google. * Xbox / Minecraft: Consumer brands that have been reasonably successful under Microsoft. Some good tie-ins with TikTok could help boost all three brands.

marmaduke 6y ago
You come close to mentioning it but don’t: GPT-3 was trained on Microsoft compute resources (according to the paper).
deleted 6y ago
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