4 ms·

Meta wants Facebook to die a slow death. Reading between the lines for Zuckerberg's public communications over the last two years, Meta is treating Facebook as

by axg11 4y ago

Meta wants Facebook to die a slow death. Reading between the lines for Zuckerberg's public communications over the last two years, Meta is treating Facebook as a legacy product in maintenance mode. FB is still a cash cow but their social media efforts are focused on Instagram and the long term prospects of the company are focused on VR/AR.

EGreg 4y ago
Wow that’s a major hot take I haven’t heard before!
ascendantlogic 4y ago
Honestly this would be good for everyone if the primary platform for misinformation and long form arguments about politics with family members went away. All I really care about is seeing people's kids and pets and memes. Everything else is at best just a waste of time and at worst actively destroying democracy.
- the_only_human 4y ago
  according to you, who is wrong. According to me, FB allows me to connect with friends. I have litteraly travelled the world because of a friend i met on facebook, and it was the greatest feeling ever. FB is awesome. If it's toxic for you, YOU ARE TOXIC.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - dang 4y ago
    We've banned this account for breaking the site guidelines. You can't attack others like this here. Also, you've mostly been posting unsubstantive and/or flamebait comments and that's not allowed either. If you don't want to be banned, you're welcome to email hn@ycombinator.com and give us reason to believe that you'll follow the rules in the future. They're here: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.
- the_only_human 4y ago
- ActorNightly 4y ago
  Why do people still think that the platform is the "cause" of things like "misinformation" You think that just shutting down the communication medium really makes all of that go away"?
  - ascendantlogic 4y ago
    Prior to social media it was demonstrably harder for people with "extreme" (for all values of extreme) views to spread their message and find like-minded people. Not impossible, but definitely not nearly as easy as it is now. Social media platforms aren't the cause of misinformation, they're the cause of the rapid dissemination of it. I don't think shutting them down will stop it but I think a lot of todays hyper-partisan inflammation of the citizenry is owed to these platforms and their encouragement of any and all "engagement" on their platforms in service of ad dollars. These companies know how harmful these products are but since they're profitable they ignore the findings. I would argue that Meta/Facebook is the Philip Morris of our generation.
kristopolous 4y ago
They're just destroying their popular products and pushing something that is almost universally hated. Read the comments of one of their ads, look at reviews, a small percentage likes it and everyone else wants it to not exist. It's like some giant parody art project of dysfunctionality, you just have to step back and admire how phenomenally effectively they're demolishing everything. It's Yahooesque At least Google has enough sense to can things that aren't working. It'd be like if they were still pushing plus and glass
HWR_14 4y ago
> Facebook as a legacy product in maintenance mode. Does FB even need to change? What's wrong with a product becoming stable and maintained and just growing in users but not features, etc? Why can't we just have products that are "done". When's the last time HN didn't get something in "maintenance mode"? With SaaS, it's not even like you need to produce new versions to get more money.
- candiodari 4y ago
  > Does FB even need to change? What's wrong with a product becoming stable and maintained and just growing in users but not features, etc? When (90%/99%) of facebook valuation is based on growth potential? About (90%/99%). Money basically.
sheepybloke 4y ago
This makes a lot of sense. Facebook as a brand is synonymous with lots of negative connotations, so treating it as a legacy site that still generates a lot of revenue while focusing on new tech (AR/VR) and other services (Instagram/whatsapp) makes sense.

by axg11 4y ago

EGreg 4y ago

Wow that’s a major hot take I haven’t heard before!

ascendantlogic 4y ago

Honestly this would be good for everyone if the primary platform for misinformation and long form arguments about politics with family members went away. All I really care about is seeing people's kids and pets and memes. Everything else is at best just a waste of time and at worst actively destroying democracy.

the_only_human 4y ago
according to you, who is wrong. According to me, FB allows me to connect with friends. I have litteraly travelled the world because of a friend i met on facebook, and it was the greatest feeling ever. FB is awesome. If it's toxic for you, YOU ARE TOXIC.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- dang 4y ago
  We've banned this account for breaking the site guidelines. You can't attack others like this here. Also, you've mostly been posting unsubstantive and/or flamebait comments and that's not allowed either. If you don't want to be banned, you're welcome to email hn@ycombinator.com and give us reason to believe that you'll follow the rules in the future. They're here: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.
the_only_human 4y ago
ActorNightly 4y ago
Why do people still think that the platform is the "cause" of things like "misinformation" You think that just shutting down the communication medium really makes all of that go away"?
- ascendantlogic 4y ago
  Prior to social media it was demonstrably harder for people with "extreme" (for all values of extreme) views to spread their message and find like-minded people. Not impossible, but definitely not nearly as easy as it is now. Social media platforms aren't the cause of misinformation, they're the cause of the rapid dissemination of it. I don't think shutting them down will stop it but I think a lot of todays hyper-partisan inflammation of the citizenry is owed to these platforms and their encouragement of any and all "engagement" on their platforms in service of ad dollars. These companies know how harmful these products are but since they're profitable they ignore the findings. I would argue that Meta/Facebook is the Philip Morris of our generation.

kristopolous 4y ago

They're just destroying their popular products and pushing something that is almost universally hated. Read the comments of one of their ads, look at reviews, a small percentage likes it and everyone else wants it to not exist. It's like some giant parody art project of dysfunctionality, you just have to step back and admire how phenomenally effectively they're demolishing everything. It's Yahooesque At least Google has enough sense to can things that aren't working. It'd be like if they were still pushing plus and glass

HWR_14 4y ago

> Facebook as a legacy product in maintenance mode. Does FB even need to change? What's wrong with a product becoming stable and maintained and just growing in users but not features, etc? Why can't we just have products that are "done". When's the last time HN didn't get something in "maintenance mode"? With SaaS, it's not even like you need to produce new versions to get more money.

candiodari 4y ago
> Does FB even need to change? What's wrong with a product becoming stable and maintained and just growing in users but not features, etc? When (90%/99%) of facebook valuation is based on growth potential? About (90%/99%). Money basically.

sheepybloke 4y ago

This makes a lot of sense. Facebook as a brand is synonymous with lots of negative connotations, so treating it as a legacy site that still generates a lot of revenue while focusing on new tech (AR/VR) and other services (Instagram/whatsapp) makes sense.