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I'm not sure how much facebook paid Fridman for this podcast but whatever it was, whether it was 0 or 10 million, it's probably the best value for money PR they

I'm not sure how much facebook paid Fridman for this podcast but whatever it was, whether it was 0 or 10 million, it's probably the best value for money PR they've done in the last decade...or ever?

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
baby 3y ago
Why would they pay Lex for this? It's basically his full time job to do interviews for his podcast. That demo was going to happen one day or another as the tech progresses, and it'll only get better from there.
- bookaway 3y ago
  The implication in my comment is that they might indeed have not paid him anything. And Fridman on principle may not have accepted payment even if offered. But who knows what type of deals go down behind the curtain in the podcasting world, it’s not unheard of to come across interviews that look like paid promotion where the podcaster doesn’t explicitly state it as such. But my point was more really that even if they paid him 10 million, the PR would have been worth it. >That demo was going to happen one day or another as the tech progresses Yes, all amazing technology is going to happen eventually — no one really cares about that. They care about seeing it happen in the present, right in front of their eyes. The metaverse was mocked profusely in 2023, and we have gone through multiple cycles of “This is going to be the year of VR” in past decades. Tech stocks have been flat the last couple of months and Meta is a public company. No one on the outside would have batted an eye if they quietly shut this whole thing down after being so relentlessly mocked for the past year. So saying Zuckerberg doing this demo was inevitable after the fact is a bit flippant I think. And if facebook did a demo with a bunch of celebrities and put it on their website I’m not sure it would have the same effect as this long interview with Fridman. It wouldn’t have the same effect on me that’s for sure. And I’m pretty sure they would have paid those celebrities.
  - baby 3y ago
    Anybody who has tried VR knows that the critics have been way off and it's not about if, but about when someone is convinced that VR is amazing
koonsolo 3y ago
This is how much they paid: "Do you want to be the first one to interview Marc in the Metaverse or do we pick someone else?"
SilverBirch 3y ago
I think it's naive to even talk about payment, that's not how the podcast world works. The way it works is you have an assortment of bros who have no background in journalism and no second thoughts about ethics and their method for getting on high value guests is just to be incredibly soft interviewers and incredibly sycophantic to their guests. The result is rich tech CEOs get to go around getting licked up and down by these podcasters without ever having to worry about facing real scrutiny. And you don't even need a quid pro quo, Lex knows he won't book guests if he starts grilling them like a real journalist, and Zuck knows he's not going to accidentally endorse Nazi's if he sticks to safe interviews like Lex. And there really is no limit, Lex will literally try to serve up soft ball questions to Nazis given half a chance. Of course anyone in the real world realizes how little credibility these "interviews" have.
- thelastparadise 3y ago
  Good Lord this is cynical. Perhaps it's just a different medium? Not everything has to be a hardcore interrogation. There's a time and a place for that.

I'm not sure how much facebook paid Fridman for this podcast but whatever it was, whether it was 0 or 10 million, it's probably the best value for money PR they've done in the last decade...or ever?

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

baby 3y ago

Why would they pay Lex for this? It's basically his full time job to do interviews for his podcast. That demo was going to happen one day or another as the tech progresses, and it'll only get better from there.

bookaway 3y ago
The implication in my comment is that they might indeed have not paid him anything. And Fridman on principle may not have accepted payment even if offered. But who knows what type of deals go down behind the curtain in the podcasting world, it’s not unheard of to come across interviews that look like paid promotion where the podcaster doesn’t explicitly state it as such. But my point was more really that even if they paid him 10 million, the PR would have been worth it. >That demo was going to happen one day or another as the tech progresses Yes, all amazing technology is going to happen eventually — no one really cares about that. They care about seeing it happen in the present, right in front of their eyes. The metaverse was mocked profusely in 2023, and we have gone through multiple cycles of “This is going to be the year of VR” in past decades. Tech stocks have been flat the last couple of months and Meta is a public company. No one on the outside would have batted an eye if they quietly shut this whole thing down after being so relentlessly mocked for the past year. So saying Zuckerberg doing this demo was inevitable after the fact is a bit flippant I think. And if facebook did a demo with a bunch of celebrities and put it on their website I’m not sure it would have the same effect as this long interview with Fridman. It wouldn’t have the same effect on me that’s for sure. And I’m pretty sure they would have paid those celebrities.
- baby 3y ago
  Anybody who has tried VR knows that the critics have been way off and it's not about if, but about when someone is convinced that VR is amazing

koonsolo 3y ago

This is how much they paid: "Do you want to be the first one to interview Marc in the Metaverse or do we pick someone else?"

SilverBirch 3y ago

I think it's naive to even talk about payment, that's not how the podcast world works. The way it works is you have an assortment of bros who have no background in journalism and no second thoughts about ethics and their method for getting on high value guests is just to be incredibly soft interviewers and incredibly sycophantic to their guests. The result is rich tech CEOs get to go around getting licked up and down by these podcasters without ever having to worry about facing real scrutiny. And you don't even need a quid pro quo, Lex knows he won't book guests if he starts grilling them like a real journalist, and Zuck knows he's not going to accidentally endorse Nazi's if he sticks to safe interviews like Lex. And there really is no limit, Lex will literally try to serve up soft ball questions to Nazis given half a chance. Of course anyone in the real world realizes how little credibility these "interviews" have.

thelastparadise 3y ago
Good Lord this is cynical. Perhaps it's just a different medium? Not everything has to be a hardcore interrogation. There's a time and a place for that.