6 ms·

You’re forgetting that they also own WhatsApp, the primary mode of communication for several countries.

by sam1r 4y ago

cjrp 4y ago
I know it's grown since the acquisition, but how many people were involved in developing and running the service pre-Facebook?
- hdjjhhvvhga 4y ago
  Around 35.
- oblio 4y ago
  Do you think a large entreprise that actually needs to follow legislation in 100+ countries can work the same way a startup can, though?
  - bmicraft 4y ago
    Do you think it grew as significantly as it's employees did? Whatsapp was already huge beyond measure when they bought it.
  - cjrp 4y ago
    No, I think it requires more. How many more is the question though.
pembrook 4y ago
Apple runs a competitor for that too with iMessage so I’d call it a wash. Ditto on the AR/VR metaverse thing if macrumors is to be believed.
- hfbff 4y ago
  Are you in the USA? iMessage is only really relevant in the USA. Meanwhile, Whatsapp is huge in Latin America, Europe, Africa, parts of Asia
  - aikinai 4y ago
    Popularity doesn’t have any affect on how many people you need to build it.
    - shubb 4y ago
      Presumably a lot of these are content moderation staff, often much cheaper than engineers. Facebook claimed to have made good progress in the last year automating moderation, but could also just be backing off on moderation to reduce costs at increased risk of regulation. Often that kind of staff will be employed via agencies, so it's difficult to really compare between companies as we don't have the numbers. For instance, Apple presumably need a lot of staff to moderate apple pay, but if they have outsourced the rolls we won't know how many there are or see if they get cut.
      - dekleinewolf 4y ago
        We're specifically talking WhatsApp, there's no moderation in private messaging.
    - oblio 4y ago
      Oh, so that's why we have millions of blog articles about how to scale software and software organizations? Because software used by 10k people needs as many features and infrastructure care and investment as one used by 3 billion people?
      - yebyen 4y ago
        No need for egregious hyperbole, there are well more than 10k iPhones in the USA
      - tarsinge 4y ago
        That's not how it works, WhatsApp had 50 engineers when it had 900M users[0]. Beside iMessage is not only used by 10k, some estimates put it at more than 1 billion users[1]. [0]https://www.wired.com/2015/09/whatsapp-serves-900-million-users-50-engineers/ https://www.wired.com/2015/09/whatsapp-serves-900-million-us... [1]https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2022/09/10/why-apple-iphone-ipad-mac-google-android-and-even-windows-10-users-need-secure-messaging/?sh=131ea6487fd4 https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2022/09/10/why-apple...
- sam1r 4y ago
  >> Apple runs a competitor for that too with iMessage so I’d call it a wash. I agree, and I’m sure it’s adoption rate is increasing globally. I’m just saying… WhatsApps global impact on an everyday basis is quite overlooked. There are countries where people solely depend on WhatsApp to communicate externally. Todays’ green sms on an iPhone is equivalent to a WhatsApp text. If that fallback, that Facebook controls and owns, didn’t exist or your country banned it—imagine not receiving messages from your kids because “WhatsApp is down”? Anyways tldr; WhatsApp is cheaper than sms. The default communication for many. More affordable. More used daily as a necessity.
blibble 4y ago
pre-facebook wasn't that run by 50 people?

You’re forgetting that they also own WhatsApp, the primary mode of communication for several countries.

by sam1r 4y ago

You’re forgetting that they also own WhatsApp, the primary mode of communication for several countries.

cjrp 4y ago

I know it's grown since the acquisition, but how many people were involved in developing and running the service pre-Facebook?

hdjjhhvvhga 4y ago
Around 35.
oblio 4y ago
Do you think a large entreprise that actually needs to follow legislation in 100+ countries can work the same way a startup can, though?
- bmicraft 4y ago
  Do you think it grew as significantly as it's employees did? Whatsapp was already huge beyond measure when they bought it.
- cjrp 4y ago
  No, I think it requires more. How many more is the question though.

pembrook 4y ago

Apple runs a competitor for that too with iMessage so I’d call it a wash. Ditto on the AR/VR metaverse thing if macrumors is to be believed.

hfbff 4y ago
Are you in the USA? iMessage is only really relevant in the USA. Meanwhile, Whatsapp is huge in Latin America, Europe, Africa, parts of Asia
- aikinai 4y ago
  Popularity doesn’t have any affect on how many people you need to build it.
  - shubb 4y ago
    Presumably a lot of these are content moderation staff, often much cheaper than engineers. Facebook claimed to have made good progress in the last year automating moderation, but could also just be backing off on moderation to reduce costs at increased risk of regulation. Often that kind of staff will be employed via agencies, so it's difficult to really compare between companies as we don't have the numbers. For instance, Apple presumably need a lot of staff to moderate apple pay, but if they have outsourced the rolls we won't know how many there are or see if they get cut.
    - dekleinewolf 4y ago
      We're specifically talking WhatsApp, there's no moderation in private messaging.
  - oblio 4y ago
    Oh, so that's why we have millions of blog articles about how to scale software and software organizations? Because software used by 10k people needs as many features and infrastructure care and investment as one used by 3 billion people?
    - yebyen 4y ago
      No need for egregious hyperbole, there are well more than 10k iPhones in the USA
    - tarsinge 4y ago
      That's not how it works, WhatsApp had 50 engineers when it had 900M users[0]. Beside iMessage is not only used by 10k, some estimates put it at more than 1 billion users[1]. [0]https://www.wired.com/2015/09/whatsapp-serves-900-million-users-50-engineers/ https://www.wired.com/2015/09/whatsapp-serves-900-million-us... [1]https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2022/09/10/why-apple-iphone-ipad-mac-google-android-and-even-windows-10-users-need-secure-messaging/?sh=131ea6487fd4 https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2022/09/10/why-apple...
sam1r 4y ago
>> Apple runs a competitor for that too with iMessage so I’d call it a wash. I agree, and I’m sure it’s adoption rate is increasing globally. I’m just saying… WhatsApps global impact on an everyday basis is quite overlooked. There are countries where people solely depend on WhatsApp to communicate externally. Todays’ green sms on an iPhone is equivalent to a WhatsApp text. If that fallback, that Facebook controls and owns, didn’t exist or your country banned it—imagine not receiving messages from your kids because “WhatsApp is down”? Anyways tldr; WhatsApp is cheaper than sms. The default communication for many. More affordable. More used daily as a necessity.

blibble 4y ago

pre-facebook wasn't that run by 50 people?