6 ms·

This is not true! I was looking at a hair salon and bakery recently. Both, being run by millennials, have nothing but a google maps listing and an Instagram acc

This is not true! I was looking at a hair salon and bakery recently. Both, being run by millennials, have nothing but a google maps listing and an Instagram account. But I don't have one and after looking at a few photos of cakes and hairstyles, it gives me the boot and asks me to sign in to see more! Adding mandatory government ID to that is crazy.

rokkitmensch 3y ago
Anything that contributes to funnel friction for those wreckers is a social net positive in my book.
wannacboatmovie 3y ago
They sound like incompetent business proprietors. When did having a website become something exclusively for old people? Millennials are in their 30s and 40s.
- nicoburns 3y ago
  > When did having a website become something exclusively for old people? It's more that having a website never became a thing for many businesses in the first place. 30 years ago they might have had a listing in the phone book. Nowadays that kind of business might have a facebook page, or more recently an instagram account. Creating a website (even with something like wix) requires a level of skill and effort above that.
  - smallerfish 3y ago
    They're just being cheap. Facebook is free (and "everybody has Facebook") whereas Wix and Squarespace are $12-$15/mo for businesses.
    - vundercind 3y ago
      For a lot of businesses, a website receives way fewer views than any one of their top-3 social media sites. I’ve seen a lot who are still paying for a site but rarely bother to update it. All the traffic’s on Facebook.
    - caskstrength 3y ago
      It is not just 15$ a month. You need to pay someone to develop the website in the first place and then deal with all kinds of issues that eventually arise (updating the underlying framework and/or getting hacked and dealing with the consequences, solving random stuff like expired SSL certificate, etc.).
  - reticulan 3y ago
    Idk how something like a cafe would necessarily benefit the business to have a dedicated website. A facebook (or google maps) page presents relevant info such as location/hours/menu in a predefined schema, so neither the owner or the customer need to worry about formatting it (or understanding the format).
- groby_b 3y ago
  Their competence is measured by their success, not your opinions. And it turns out that in many professions, an insta is the thing you need for success. If you don't like it, that's your problem, not theirs. You're part of a small enough group they don't care about. I'm not sure how that's an age question in the first place, though. The "being run by millenials" throwaway by GP is just... well, at best, sloppy thinking. There are GenZ businesses websiting, there are boomers insta-ing. You pick the tool for your niche.
  - morkalork 3y ago
    Well, I went to the bakery and I can attest that they are indeed run by millennials. I will argue with the technical ineptness point made earlier though. If you can figure out how to make videos with music and edit in animated graphics using the tools Instagram or whoever else provides, you can figure out Wix's website builder.
    - motoxpro 3y ago
      Why do you need them to have a website? A thing that has no traffic, no discoverabilty, needs to be updated, paid for, etc? All the information is already on google maps and IG/Facebook. They have 2-3 billion people in their target audience.
      - morkalork 3y ago
        Well presumably a website would be accessible to everyone, account login and government ID or not.
        motoxpro 3y ago
        I guess that’s my point though. isn't it a very rational BUSINESS decision to go some where 80% of people and probably 99% of their target market are on these platforms that provide them with free distribution? Outside of the moral qualms of that 1% of people that don’t have a social media account or use google?
    - 3y ago
paulddraper 3y ago
Instagram gives you like half a scroll. Facebook is more generous.
darby_eight 3y ago
That's kind of on Instagram for forcing you to log in—I certainly never use the site to look at anything. Google maps certainly doesn't require this. Regardless, I won't bemoan the demise of either business. We need something simpler to drive traffic.

rokkitmensch 3y ago

Anything that contributes to funnel friction for those wreckers is a social net positive in my book.

wannacboatmovie 3y ago

They sound like incompetent business proprietors. When did having a website become something exclusively for old people? Millennials are in their 30s and 40s.

nicoburns 3y ago
> When did having a website become something exclusively for old people? It's more that having a website never became a thing for many businesses in the first place. 30 years ago they might have had a listing in the phone book. Nowadays that kind of business might have a facebook page, or more recently an instagram account. Creating a website (even with something like wix) requires a level of skill and effort above that.
- smallerfish 3y ago
  They're just being cheap. Facebook is free (and "everybody has Facebook") whereas Wix and Squarespace are $12-$15/mo for businesses.
  - vundercind 3y ago
    For a lot of businesses, a website receives way fewer views than any one of their top-3 social media sites. I’ve seen a lot who are still paying for a site but rarely bother to update it. All the traffic’s on Facebook.
  - caskstrength 3y ago
    It is not just 15$ a month. You need to pay someone to develop the website in the first place and then deal with all kinds of issues that eventually arise (updating the underlying framework and/or getting hacked and dealing with the consequences, solving random stuff like expired SSL certificate, etc.).
- reticulan 3y ago
  Idk how something like a cafe would necessarily benefit the business to have a dedicated website. A facebook (or google maps) page presents relevant info such as location/hours/menu in a predefined schema, so neither the owner or the customer need to worry about formatting it (or understanding the format).
groby_b 3y ago
Their competence is measured by their success, not your opinions. And it turns out that in many professions, an insta is the thing you need for success. If you don't like it, that's your problem, not theirs. You're part of a small enough group they don't care about. I'm not sure how that's an age question in the first place, though. The "being run by millenials" throwaway by GP is just... well, at best, sloppy thinking. There are GenZ businesses websiting, there are boomers insta-ing. You pick the tool for your niche.
- morkalork 3y ago
  Well, I went to the bakery and I can attest that they are indeed run by millennials. I will argue with the technical ineptness point made earlier though. If you can figure out how to make videos with music and edit in animated graphics using the tools Instagram or whoever else provides, you can figure out Wix's website builder.
  - motoxpro 3y ago
    Why do you need them to have a website? A thing that has no traffic, no discoverabilty, needs to be updated, paid for, etc? All the information is already on google maps and IG/Facebook. They have 2-3 billion people in their target audience.
    - morkalork 3y ago
      Well presumably a website would be accessible to everyone, account login and government ID or not.
      - motoxpro 3y ago
        I guess that’s my point though. isn't it a very rational BUSINESS decision to go some where 80% of people and probably 99% of their target market are on these platforms that provide them with free distribution? Outside of the moral qualms of that 1% of people that don’t have a social media account or use google?
  - 3y ago

paulddraper 3y ago

Instagram gives you like half a scroll. Facebook is more generous.

darby_eight 3y ago

That's kind of on Instagram for forcing you to log in—I certainly never use the site to look at anything. Google maps certainly doesn't require this. Regardless, I won't bemoan the demise of either business. We need something simpler to drive traffic.