4 ms·

The questions are twofold: does Facebook do more good than bad? Could the good be accomplished without much of the bad? The answers to both questions are argu

by nr2x 6y ago

The questions are twofold: does Facebook do more good than bad? Could the good be accomplished without much of the bad? The answers to both questions are arguably bad for Facebook.

hutzlibu 6y ago
But then why is there no serious competitor?
- nr2x 6y ago
  Imagine a world where Facebook didn’t buy WhatsApp and Instagram. So I think the better hypothetical is “imagine a world where Facebook didn’t leverage its existing dominance to preempt competitors”.
  - hutzlibu 6y ago
    Oh, since I do not use Facebook or Instagramm and only occasionally whatsapp, I can very well imagine a world without that all. Still, if enough people would be fed up with FB, their dominance would fade away. Well, afaik Telegram (and Signal) gained lots marketshare lateley, so lets see
- sandworm101 6y ago
  >> no serious competitor? There are plenty. There is no mirror corporation doing exactly the same thing under a different name. But there is no mirror to Microsoft, Google, Apple or any other large tech corp. These are corporations backed by ironclad IP laws meaning nobody can every play on exactly the same field. For something like facebook, the competitor is all things not facebook. Every time you share a new story via SMS, you are competing with facebook. Every time you send a message via email rather than via facebook you are competing with facebook. And ever time you visit a store's own website rather than their facebook page, you deny facebook a tiny bit of the world. That is the serious competitor.
  - nr2x 6y ago
    The competition for Facebook is owning the social graph as a means to fuel advertising profits. Google+ failed, sure. Instagram would have been eating Mark's lunch right now if he didn't buy them, and he knows it.
- wizzwizz4 6y ago
  https://friendi.ca https://friendi.ca is a serious competitor doing mostly the same things as Facebook. (Except it's a social media site first, instead of an ad network first.) But you probably don't need social media.
- TomSwirly 6y ago
  A social network is a natural monopoly. You are kept at Facebook because all your friends are on Facebook, and they are kept there because you are.
- missedthecue 6y ago
  Competition to what? Facebook's main product is ads.

by nr2x 6y ago

The questions are twofold: does Facebook do more good than bad? Could the good be accomplished without much of the bad? The answers to both questions are arguably bad for Facebook.

hutzlibu 6y ago

But then why is there no serious competitor?

nr2x 6y ago
Imagine a world where Facebook didn’t buy WhatsApp and Instagram. So I think the better hypothetical is “imagine a world where Facebook didn’t leverage its existing dominance to preempt competitors”.
- hutzlibu 6y ago
  Oh, since I do not use Facebook or Instagramm and only occasionally whatsapp, I can very well imagine a world without that all. Still, if enough people would be fed up with FB, their dominance would fade away. Well, afaik Telegram (and Signal) gained lots marketshare lateley, so lets see
sandworm101 6y ago
>> no serious competitor? There are plenty. There is no mirror corporation doing exactly the same thing under a different name. But there is no mirror to Microsoft, Google, Apple or any other large tech corp. These are corporations backed by ironclad IP laws meaning nobody can every play on exactly the same field. For something like facebook, the competitor is all things not facebook. Every time you share a new story via SMS, you are competing with facebook. Every time you send a message via email rather than via facebook you are competing with facebook. And ever time you visit a store's own website rather than their facebook page, you deny facebook a tiny bit of the world. That is the serious competitor.
- nr2x 6y ago
  The competition for Facebook is owning the social graph as a means to fuel advertising profits. Google+ failed, sure. Instagram would have been eating Mark's lunch right now if he didn't buy them, and he knows it.
wizzwizz4 6y ago
https://friendi.ca https://friendi.ca is a serious competitor doing mostly the same things as Facebook. (Except it's a social media site first, instead of an ad network first.) But you probably don't need social media.
TomSwirly 6y ago
A social network is a natural monopoly. You are kept at Facebook because all your friends are on Facebook, and they are kept there because you are.
missedthecue 6y ago
Competition to what? Facebook's main product is ads.