6 ms·

I think this is the same thing I feel when I read Meta's earnings. I continue to see growth in usage of their core properties but I don't think my entire circle

I think this is the same thing I feel when I read Meta's earnings. I continue to see growth in usage of their core properties but I don't think my entire circle touches Facebook or even Instagram nearly as much. Whatsapp certainly isn't driving those ad dollars so it truly is remarkable how disconnected my demographic (loosely using my here) is from the overall world usage.

carlossouza 2y ago
The world is much larger than the bubble we live in.
- spydum 2y ago
  Or they are counting bots and other ai agents and ignoring the truth?
  - sahila 2y ago
    Ultimately advertisers want a return on their spend and it's a closely watched metric for marketers. Them continuing to spend is indicative that there's growing value in ads, ie bots/ai agents cannot be the reason for their growth. You could argue fb and particularly twitter are incentivized to include it in their DAU counts but market cares more for revenue for large companies.
    - ethbr1 2y ago
      "There is no alternative" I wouldn't put it past Google/Meta coopting corporate advertisers. Everyone makes everyone look good, by stating the best possible numbers.
      - ajross 2y ago
        Google and Meta literally represent alternative advertising products.
        mangosteenjuice 2y ago
        So do Android and iOS. They're still the primary indicators of the strength of the smartphone market. You probably can't imagine a world without advertisements or smartphones, but that's the point from the post you're responding to that you're missing. If the advertising industry looks healthy, it helps everyone by keeping investors satisfied and share prices up, even if it's a ruse. It is possible for smartphones and the concept of advertising to cease existing some day. There's a spectrum between the current reality and absolute zero, and staying as far away from zero is the goal, even once we enter an inescapable decline.
        ajross 2y ago
        Arguably true, but that's a rather different point than "there is no alternative". There are arguments to be made about market "health" and the relative sizes of the largest players, but what the upthread comment was doing was resorting to "anti trust" shorthand that clearly doesn't apply. There may be problems with this market, but lack of competition isn't one of them.
      - sangnoir 2y ago
        SMEs spend a lot on advertising, in aggregate. These smaller businesses are more sensitive to lowered conversation rates and will bail early - Meta took a huge hit in earnings in the aftermath of Apple's privacy changes due to poor conversions. Advertisers didn't keep pumping money in - they stopped campaigns.
sharadov 2y ago
You have no idea of Whatsapp's marketshare in India - all small businesses use Whatsapp for all communication and even take payments. That's a 1.4B population.
- marcosdumay 2y ago
  How does whatsapp make money? (At all, and how much?) It's not possible it makes as much as the main Meta properties. It has no ads on anything people use.
  - harryp_peng 2y ago
    It's not about money - how valuable the company is depends on how many people use it intersect how useful it is. As long as it's valuable, it's valuable.
  - sangnoir 2y ago
    I suspect WhatsApp has a better shot at being the "everything app" compared to Twitter.
    - sharadov 2y ago
      Am guessing they want to become like "wechat"
  - sharadov 2y ago
    They have a business api and take a cut of transaction fees on whatsapp pay. And they obviously cross-reference the data with Instagram/FB to sell you stuff.
    - sashank_1509 2y ago
      Meta does not have access to your WhatsApp chats as they are end to end encrypted.
      - 2y ago
aworks 2y ago
I see friends' Meta activity in the Philippines and it's 10x what I see from friends elsewhere.
TillE 2y ago
I'm not sure anyone under like 60 is frequently using Facebook as social media, but Facebook Marketplace is huge, Instagram is huge.
iaseiadit 2y ago
I've thought this about Facebook/Meta for so many years now, and I continue to be proven wrong time and time again.

carlossouza 2y ago

The world is much larger than the bubble we live in.

spydum 2y ago
Or they are counting bots and other ai agents and ignoring the truth?
- sahila 2y ago
  Ultimately advertisers want a return on their spend and it's a closely watched metric for marketers. Them continuing to spend is indicative that there's growing value in ads, ie bots/ai agents cannot be the reason for their growth. You could argue fb and particularly twitter are incentivized to include it in their DAU counts but market cares more for revenue for large companies.
  - ethbr1 2y ago
    "There is no alternative" I wouldn't put it past Google/Meta coopting corporate advertisers. Everyone makes everyone look good, by stating the best possible numbers.
    - ajross 2y ago
      Google and Meta literally represent alternative advertising products.
      - mangosteenjuice 2y ago
        So do Android and iOS. They're still the primary indicators of the strength of the smartphone market. You probably can't imagine a world without advertisements or smartphones, but that's the point from the post you're responding to that you're missing. If the advertising industry looks healthy, it helps everyone by keeping investors satisfied and share prices up, even if it's a ruse. It is possible for smartphones and the concept of advertising to cease existing some day. There's a spectrum between the current reality and absolute zero, and staying as far away from zero is the goal, even once we enter an inescapable decline.
        ajross 2y ago
        Arguably true, but that's a rather different point than "there is no alternative". There are arguments to be made about market "health" and the relative sizes of the largest players, but what the upthread comment was doing was resorting to "anti trust" shorthand that clearly doesn't apply. There may be problems with this market, but lack of competition isn't one of them.
    - sangnoir 2y ago
      SMEs spend a lot on advertising, in aggregate. These smaller businesses are more sensitive to lowered conversation rates and will bail early - Meta took a huge hit in earnings in the aftermath of Apple's privacy changes due to poor conversions. Advertisers didn't keep pumping money in - they stopped campaigns.

sharadov 2y ago

You have no idea of Whatsapp's marketshare in India - all small businesses use Whatsapp for all communication and even take payments. That's a 1.4B population.

marcosdumay 2y ago
How does whatsapp make money? (At all, and how much?) It's not possible it makes as much as the main Meta properties. It has no ads on anything people use.
- harryp_peng 2y ago
  It's not about money - how valuable the company is depends on how many people use it intersect how useful it is. As long as it's valuable, it's valuable.
- sangnoir 2y ago
  I suspect WhatsApp has a better shot at being the "everything app" compared to Twitter.
  - sharadov 2y ago
    Am guessing they want to become like "wechat"
- sharadov 2y ago
  They have a business api and take a cut of transaction fees on whatsapp pay. And they obviously cross-reference the data with Instagram/FB to sell you stuff.
  - sashank_1509 2y ago
    Meta does not have access to your WhatsApp chats as they are end to end encrypted.
    - 2y ago

aworks 2y ago

I see friends' Meta activity in the Philippines and it's 10x what I see from friends elsewhere.

TillE 2y ago

I'm not sure anyone under like 60 is frequently using Facebook as social media, but Facebook Marketplace is huge, Instagram is huge.

iaseiadit 2y ago

I've thought this about Facebook/Meta for so many years now, and I continue to be proven wrong time and time again.