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Facebook was so great back before they monetized it. About 7 years back, I loaded up some mobile version of Facebook intended for feature phones in developing c

Facebook was so great back before they monetized it. About 7 years back, I loaded up some mobile version of Facebook intended for feature phones in developing countries. I don't recall what the url was, but it was really basic, and it just had a simple chronological timeline you could piece through. I went back to my years in college, and it was just friends saying hi, asking to hang out, talking about mutual interests. There were no news articles or public posts, effectively no memes, and zero outrage. I know these sorts of observations are nothing new on HN, but it left such a stark impression on me that I still remember it all these years later.

1970-01-01 4y ago
The Web was very different and alive back then. FB was an Internet crown jewel circa 03-06. Signs of decay started showing right around its iOS and Android Apps launching, however Facebook Apps in 2009 was the real foreshadowing of terrible. https://web.archive.org/web/20090701095337/http://developers.facebook.com/get_started.php?tab=anatomy https://web.archive.org/web/20090701095337/http://developers...
- ashwagary 4y ago
  I feel like broad economic downturns (2008) cause a shift in user-generated content platforms that are generally for the worse. The added need to monetize content can push development in an unhealthy direction.