6 ms·

Sorry but can we back track and just go to basics. Facebook throws off a tonne of money. Yes, people get angry about the political nature of their content decis

Sorry but can we back track and just go to basics. Facebook throws off a tonne of money. Yes, people get angry about the political nature of their content decisions, but at the end of the day these social networks can be enormous revenue streams. MS can pick this one up at a massive discount, and even if they later decide that they don't want to be in that business they can spin it out for a hell of a lot of money because they won't be under the hammer of being banned. Strategically the fact that Microsoft isn't political is one of the advantages - everyone knows Facebook is the living emobdiment of a psychopath. But trying to convince people that those nerds who sell Office are secretly pushing a political agenda is going to be a tough sell. Microsoft isn't like Google, Apple or Twitter- they're not advertising a political ideology as part of their company image.

skinnymuch 6y ago
I wonder how many really think that about Facebook. I’m sure a lot, but the exaggeration around techie sites sometimes seems like people believe it. I’ve never had a problem with Facebook any more than Microsoft in the 90s or Google or Amazon for the past decade+. I find Twitter and Snapchat worse [at times] personally. Jack and Ev screwed over Noah Glass so egregiously. Jack being the worst of it. Then they attempted to white wash over the history. Jack had a made up story of how he came up with Twitter. The rest have lied for so long about other aspects even though Noah is the one that began the initial proper work of Twitter on his laptop. That sort of personal behavior and to never make any sort of amend for it. I find that to be worse than anything Facebook or Zuckerberg have done. I always find these sort of personal cruel behavior to be the worst. Related examples are the Snapchat founders screwing over the third, Larry Ellison + Steve Jobs screwing over people including not giving stock to many first employees. Jobs doing it in Pixar and Apple.
- Traster 6y ago
  I'm not saying that Facebook have or haven't done better or worse than other companies in reality. What I'm saying is that their public reputation is atrocious at a level where the average person can understand it. Everyone's seen "The Social Network", people tune in for him testifying to congress (which he did this week, and I'd encourage you to just check out how he comes across visually compared to the others), emails saying he'll destroy other companies if they don't sell, and the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
  - skinnymuch 6y ago
    > “ everyone knows Facebook is the living emobdiment of a psychopath” The context of this and the rest of your original post made it sound like you believe the statement as well. This comment appears to reinforce that. Again, I’m not sure how many people care about all the things you listed beyond the current trend to say how evil or bad FB and Zuckerberg are. The same trend began with Bezos a few years ago when he became the richest person and has continued. Companies most in people’s lives will naturally have the most attention. So their rich founder CEOs will get the brunt of negativity too. I don’t think the average person understands it.

skinnymuch 6y ago

I wonder how many really think that about Facebook. I’m sure a lot, but the exaggeration around techie sites sometimes seems like people believe it. I’ve never had a problem with Facebook any more than Microsoft in the 90s or Google or Amazon for the past decade+. I find Twitter and Snapchat worse [at times] personally. Jack and Ev screwed over Noah Glass so egregiously. Jack being the worst of it. Then they attempted to white wash over the history. Jack had a made up story of how he came up with Twitter. The rest have lied for so long about other aspects even though Noah is the one that began the initial proper work of Twitter on his laptop. That sort of personal behavior and to never make any sort of amend for it. I find that to be worse than anything Facebook or Zuckerberg have done. I always find these sort of personal cruel behavior to be the worst. Related examples are the Snapchat founders screwing over the third, Larry Ellison + Steve Jobs screwing over people including not giving stock to many first employees. Jobs doing it in Pixar and Apple.

Traster 6y ago
I'm not saying that Facebook have or haven't done better or worse than other companies in reality. What I'm saying is that their public reputation is atrocious at a level where the average person can understand it. Everyone's seen "The Social Network", people tune in for him testifying to congress (which he did this week, and I'd encourage you to just check out how he comes across visually compared to the others), emails saying he'll destroy other companies if they don't sell, and the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
- skinnymuch 6y ago
  > “ everyone knows Facebook is the living emobdiment of a psychopath” The context of this and the rest of your original post made it sound like you believe the statement as well. This comment appears to reinforce that. Again, I’m not sure how many people care about all the things you listed beyond the current trend to say how evil or bad FB and Zuckerberg are. The same trend began with Bezos a few years ago when he became the richest person and has continued. Companies most in people’s lives will naturally have the most attention. So their rich founder CEOs will get the brunt of negativity too. I don’t think the average person understands it.