Ask HN: Do you know any company likely to beat Facebook? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Do you know any company likely to beat Facebook?

#31

Post by austincheney » Thu, Nov 12, 2020, 5:45 PM UTC

There are two things to keep in mind:

1 Facebook is not a technology company. Facebook is a media (advertising) company.

2 Facebook, like most social media, is primarily dependent upon a business model formulated between 1998-2003. The business model is convince users to volunteer content to a central server, limit liability, and serve advertisements.

If you want to compete against Facebook and beat them at their own game you have to do a couple of things:

1 Take their market share

2 Make money

You will not win that game with a superior technology. You will win that game with a new and more durable business model, but sometimes new business models require new technology. Either way you have to be incredibly innovative and persistent, because most people absolutely hate original ideas.

Re: Ask HN: Do you know any company likely to beat Facebook?

#32

Post by decafninja » Thu, Nov 12, 2020, 7:11 PM UTC

Isn't Instagram basically similar now to the original FB product during its best years?

My social circle (consisting mostly of people in their upper 20s to early 40s) has largely abandoned FB in favor of Instagram. My understanding is the younger age brackets are also falling off Instagram in favor of things like Snap and TikTok? (correct me if wrong).

Seems like the major users of the original FB product are now older and/or less tech-saavy people who were late to catch the social networking boat? Again, correct me if I'm wrong.

Re: Ask HN: Do you know any company likely to beat Facebook?

#33

Post by decafninja » Thu, Nov 12, 2020, 7:14 PM UTC

mhoad wrote: post #29

Warning: Incoming Hot Take... Facebook is probably one of the single most hated companies in tech at the moment and it seems unlikely that is going to change anytime soon. I can't even remember the last time I heard someone mention that they actively enjoyed the product. They are looking down the barrel at multiple major legal issues in the coming years and they are built entirely on a model that is fundamentally abo…

Seems like the original FB product is an undead zombie trudging onwards from momentum and social networking late adopters.

But as far as I can tell, Instagram is still going extremely, extremely, strong amongst people in their 20s to 40s at least. I would go as far as to say Instagram is the product that "killed" Facebook.

I've heard the teens to early 20s crowd are abandoning Instagram for things like TikTok or Snap, but can't comment directly.

Re: Ask HN: Do you know any company likely to beat Facebook?

#34

Post by keiferski » Thu, Nov 12, 2020, 7:43 PM UTC

mhoad wrote: post #29

Warning: Incoming Hot Take... Facebook is probably one of the single most hated companies in tech at the moment and it seems unlikely that is going to change anytime soon. I can't even remember the last time I heard someone mention that they actively enjoyed the product. They are looking down the barrel at multiple major legal issues in the coming years and they are built entirely on a model that is fundamentally abo…

I agree with most of this, but: Microsoft was hated 10x as much in the 90s and they're doing just fine today. MS's business model is much more stable, to be sure, but it's not like a $70 billion-per year company is easy to unseat.

Re: Ask HN: Do you know any company likely to beat Facebook?

#35

Post by julienreszka » Thu, Nov 12, 2020, 9:07 PM UTC

decafninja wrote: post #32

Isn't Instagram basically similar now to the original FB product during its best years? My social circle (consisting mostly of people in their upper 20s to early 40s) has largely abandoned FB in favor of Instagram. My understanding is the younger age brackets are also falling off Instagram in favor of things like Snap and TikTok? (correct me if wrong). Seems like the major users of the original FB product are now old…

Facebook owns instagram

Re: Ask HN: Do you know any company likely to beat Facebook?

#36

Post by decafninja » Thu, Nov 12, 2020, 9:17 PM UTC

julienreszka wrote: post #35

decafninja wrote: post #32

Isn't Instagram basically similar now to the original FB product during its best years? My social circle (consisting mostly of people in their upper 20s to early 40s) has largely abandoned FB in favor of Instagram. My understanding is the younger age brackets are also falling off Instagram in favor of things like Snap and TikTok? (correct me if wrong). Seems like the major users of the original FB product are now old…

Facebook owns instagram

Exactly.

Re: Ask HN: Do you know any company likely to beat Facebook?

#37

Post by erklik » Fri, Nov 13, 2020, 5:45 AM UTC

decafninja wrote: post #33

mhoad wrote: post #29

Warning: Incoming Hot Take... Facebook is probably one of the single most hated companies in tech at the moment and it seems unlikely that is going to change anytime soon. I can't even remember the last time I heard someone mention that they actively enjoyed the product. They are looking down the barrel at multiple major legal issues in the coming years and they are built entirely on a model that is fundamentally abo…

Seems like the original FB product is an undead zombie trudging onwards from momentum and social networking late adopters. But as far as I can tell, Instagram is still going extremely, extremely, strong amongst people in their 20s to 40s at least. I would go as far as to say Instagram is the product that "killed" Facebook. I've heard the teens to early 20s crowd are abandoning Instagram for things like TikTok or Snap…

> Instagram for things like TikTok or Snap

Snap died when Instagram stories became a thing. TikTok is pretty huge, but depending on what the next administration does to it, that should dictate its future.

Re: Ask HN: Do you know any company likely to beat Facebook?

#38

Post by idoh » Fri, Nov 13, 2020, 6:05 AM UTC

erklik wrote: post #37

decafninja wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like the original FB product is an undead zombie trudging onwards from momentum and social networking late adopters. But as far as I can tell, Instagram is still going extremely, extremely, strong amongst people in their 20s to 40s at least. I would go as far as to say Instagram is the product that "killed" Facebook. I've heard the teens to early 20s crowd are abandoning Instagram for things like TikTok or Snap…

> Instagram for things like TikTok or Snap Snap died when Instagram stories became a thing. TikTok is pretty huge, but depending on what the next administration does to it, that should dictate its future.

Snap’s 60 billion dollar market cap disagrees.

Re: Ask HN: Do you know any company likely to beat Facebook?

#39

Post by Jaxtek » Sun, Nov 15, 2020, 4:48 AM UTC

decafninja wrote: post #32

Isn't Instagram basically similar now to the original FB product during its best years? My social circle (consisting mostly of people in their upper 20s to early 40s) has largely abandoned FB in favor of Instagram. My understanding is the younger age brackets are also falling off Instagram in favor of things like Snap and TikTok? (correct me if wrong). Seems like the major users of the original FB product are now old…

A social network grows old with its user base.Here in India,new users don't signup to FB but Instagram.New users wanna be where their peers are.Younger users don't wanna be where "old" people are (Except for WhatsApp ).

"Facebook.com" will surely die in India.But Instagram and WhatsApp won't die.FB as a company won't die.Whenever a new social network which can beat FB (by attracting younger generation) comes up,Zuck buys it.So as long as acquisitions are done,FB(company) won't die.