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Lyft surges to the top 10 on App Store following the “DeleteUber” campaign

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Re: Lyft surges to the top 10 on App Store following the “DeleteUber” campaign

#101

Post by ncallaway »

ejlangev wrote: post #35

Seems like Uber didn't really do anything wrong here other than fail on their messaging. Perhaps worth asking why so many people assumed they would be doing the wrong thing though and had little faith in Kalanick's explanations. Flocking to Lyft instead implies people make a distinction between the two in terms of ethics (which Lyft capitalized on) though probably not for any good reasons. This doesn't seem like a go…

> This doesn't seem like a good reason to delete Uber but there have been plenty of those in the past so I don't find myself very sad to see them lose business.

That's how I felt about the situation. There were plenty of reasons already that I should've deleted Uber. It doesn't really matter if this was the reason to delete Uber, so much as it was a reminder to finally get around to it.

Re: Lyft surges to the top 10 on App Store following the “DeleteUber” campaign

#102

Post by fny »

nichochar wrote: post #4

It's funny to me how Lyft positions itself like the poor little underdog that deeply cares about humans. People are so susceptible to marketing it's crazy. They provide the exact same service, and Lyft cloned most of uber's features once uber had achieved the unbelievable mindshift of changing people's behavior. Whatever people think, in a few years if Lyft is popular enough, guess what: they too will become the "big…

And Thiel and Ichaan, both Trump supporters, have massive stakes in...

Lyft.

Re: Lyft surges to the top 10 on App Store following the “DeleteUber” campaign

#103

Post by didibus »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #3

Dan Primack summarised this well; Uber failed on messaging: "Uber has done a lot of questionable things over the years, but its actions this past weekend vis-a-vis Trump's immigration ban weren't among them. An actual timeline from Saturday, which may differ from what you saw on social media: • 4:20pm ET: CEO Travis Kalanick sent email to employees. It stopped short of explicitly opposing the ban, but did say: (1) Th…

If we stop thinking of it as deleting Uber and start thinking of it as install lyft, I think it makes more sense.

Lyft took a very public opposition stance and committed to give 1 000 000$ to support an advocacy group.

And this isn't necessarily a stance against Trump, but just this particular executive order.

Re: Lyft surges to the top 10 on App Store following the “DeleteUber” campaign

#104

Post by 3131s »

pasbesoin wrote: post #73
anigbrowl wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All true, but Kalanick has built and traded on a reputation as a 'baller ' (his words, not mine) with a combative attitude, so he has himself to blame for people jumping to conclusions.

OT: Someone I know this past year called themselves a (former) "baller". They used to be a big time partier and drug user -- a (mostly, distortedly) functioning addict. A lot of coke, among other things. I initially thought of "eight ball", which does feature in one of their more dramatic stories. But apparently the term has other or mixed provenance. And things like the urban dictionary provide multiple definitions.…

A baller is someone who spends a lot of money, lives lavishly, etc.

An eight ball is 3.5 grams of coke, AKA an 1/8 of an ounce.

Re: Lyft surges to the top 10 on App Store following the “DeleteUber” campaign

#105

Post by thescribe »

nojvek wrote: post #24

One hour Uber. One hour. Just had to support the taxi strike for one hour.

Why should their drivers participate in a union strike without being in the union? If anything Uber looks more palatable to me because they were available when other options stopped.

Re: Lyft surges to the top 10 on App Store following the “DeleteUber” campaign

#106

Post by niftich »

It's unfortunate that such a literal instance of hashtag activism was based on pure speculation by random people on Twitter. Uber definitely botched the messaging, but they were in a no-win situation.

Their surge pricing algorithm will raise prices in times of low supply and high demand, which a protest coinciding with a taxi strike will definitely hit. I can understand why they would want to announce that they're going to turn off surge pricing, to make it clear they're not trying to profit off of this situation.

In retrospect, they would've been better off not saying anything, and perhaps refunding some portion of the ride price later. By making a public post devoid of context or justification, they invited fired-up commenters to arrive at their own interpretation. Some felt that Uber was trying to break the taxi strike, some felt that Uber was incentivizing protesters to clear the airport quickly (as some have pointed out, rides to JFK were not discounted).

This coupled with impassioned public largely powerless to react against government action, made a private company which has stoked people's frustrations for a while an easy target for hashtag activism. Lyft's marketing was ingenious -- they quickly capitalized on this unexpected development by donating a million dollars to the ACLU -- actions that are commendable on their own, but definitely appealed to large segments of the population.

Re: Lyft surges to the top 10 on App Store following the “DeleteUber” campaign

#107

Post by the-dude »

srtjstjsj wrote: post #96
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #3

Dan Primack summarised this well; Uber failed on messaging: "Uber has done a lot of questionable things over the years, but its actions this past weekend vis-a-vis Trump's immigration ban weren't among them. An actual timeline from Saturday, which may differ from what you saw on social media: • 4:20pm ET: CEO Travis Kalanick sent email to employees. It stopped short of explicitly opposing the ban, but did say: (1) Th…

The strike was nonsense anyway. Why were drivers striking -- punishing the innocent residents and visitors (and protestors/allies!) of New York (a sanctuary city!), in an attempt to punish Donald Trump?

Virtue signalling

Re: Lyft surges to the top 10 on App Store following the “DeleteUber” campaign

#108

Post by 3131s »

ploggingdev wrote: post #20

Another reminder that emotion trumps (unintentional pun) reasoning on social media. I find it depressing that people don't spend any time verifying stories and separating facts from fiction. I would classify the #deleteuber event as a form of fake news. You know what would be a good personal assistant or bot to build (using ML)? One that detects and informs users about fake news. Apparently the vast majority of peopl…

Considering that the user base of HN can't even agree on what is and isn't fake news, I'd say your fake news bot is an AI-complete problem.

Re: Lyft surges to the top 10 on App Store following the “DeleteUber” campaign

#109

Post by panarky »

srtjstjsj wrote: post #90
panarky wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't about "messaging" or "optics". Kalanick is playing a double game, collaborating with the Trump administration on the one hand, while simultaneously trying to be seen as moral. This is too transparent and Kalanick got caught trying to play both sides. If he believes the Muslim ban and other policies of hate are immoral, he should loudly and publicly resign his position on the president's economic advisory g…

If he disagrees with the President, why should he (and why should anyone want him to) stop speaking into the President's ear?

Collaborating with the administration legitimizes and normalizes their policies of hate.

This does far more damage than any marginal benefit from "speaking into the president's ear".

I'm sure it's good for Uber to be on Trump's team, but don't pretend you're "standing up for what's right".

Re: Lyft surges to the top 10 on App Store following the “DeleteUber” campaign

#110

Post by rdtsc »

KirinDave wrote: post #91
rdtsc wrote: post #84

Lyft sent me a political message in an email so I deleted Lyft and now don't have either one. I used them, because I thought they were nicer to the drivers and allowed me tip. And I support the refugees and think this is a stupid and dangerous ban. Oh and I was a bit in the same boat as some of them and on a few occasions was not allowed board the plane with a ticket in hand, and was not able to get home to US. But L…

> This is getting ridiculous. We and our allies have bombed the crap out of those countries. Destabilized, them turned them into failed states. (Iran is probably the only sane one who arguably has a functioning government). We bombed hospitals, civilians, funded ISIS. Obama alone, the Nobel Peace Prize recipient just last year managed to drop over 26k bombs but but there is a stupid travel ban and the apps on my phon…

> I'm really confused by this. Are you mad because the political climate is encouraging people to wake up and go,

I am mad that an app on my phone is now sending me emails about what I think is a fake outrage and jumping on a bandwagon.

> Are you mad because the political climate is encouraging people to wake up and go,

People should wake up. And one can argue, a good thing about Trump is perhaps we'll see a start of a new party and a new generation who is more involved and will be successful next time during election. But I don't want apps on my phone to wake up. They should keep quiet.

> but then mad that that touches your life,

But my life is already touched. Don't need Lyft to touch me more.

> I'm not sure what you're actually asking for.

A taxi app that doesn't send emails every time Trump does something stupid. I imagine that is probably too much.

I heard there is a "support Starbucks" thing now as well because they vowed to hire 10k refugees. So I should make an extra effort to get some of that tomorrow. I remember when they were the corporate burnt coffee and independent-suppliers crushing overlords. Then I should enable G+ because Brin was in the news protesting at SFO. I am sure there is a longer list I can find on how I can "support the refugees and squash Trump by buying these 10 great services and products.

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