Internal emails show Zuckerberg and Facebook execs discuss cloning competitors
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Re: Internal emails show Zuckerberg and Facebook execs discuss cloning competitors
#2Is this considered anti-competitive or competitive under the new standards (which seem primarily focused on harm to other businesses) vs the older standards around consumer harm.
Re: Internal emails show Zuckerberg and Facebook execs discuss cloning competitors
#3Why is this news? Is anyone even remotely surprised by this?
The rules exist to be skirted by those who have the power to shape them.
Re: Internal emails show Zuckerberg and Facebook execs discuss cloning competitors
#4Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery
Don't most companies have these types of conversations? I haven't been at one yet that hasn't. Good startups look at their competitors and decide to clone some, and change other, features.
Were we not excited here yesterday on HN, that Cloudflare is cloning and undercutting AWS S3?
Re: Internal emails show Zuckerberg and Facebook execs discuss cloning competitors
#5Why is this news? Is anyone even remotely surprised by this? The rules exist to be skirted by those who have the power to shape them.
Not really. But, to me, it was interesting to learn more about the details and the conversations behind the scenes.
Re: Internal emails show Zuckerberg and Facebook execs discuss cloning competitors
#6I'm not really sure I see the issue here, though I'm no expert. Isn't this what competitors do? If Facebook failed because Pinterest and WhatsApp overtook them, the comments would be full of "well, they stood pat while WhatsApp innovated". I think it would be neglectful not to see what works and attempt to replicate that success.
Re: Internal emails show Zuckerberg and Facebook execs discuss cloning competitors
#7Honest question: Is this against the rules? If there's a market a company wants to enter, wouldn't they just analyze the cost to build (both product, and market/audience), vs. acquiring (both product, and market/audience), then pick the cheapest option?
Re: Internal emails show Zuckerberg and Facebook execs discuss cloning competitors
#8I'm not really sure I see the issue here, though I'm no expert. Isn't this what competitors do? If Facebook failed because Pinterest and WhatsApp overtook them, the comments would be full of "well, they stood pat while WhatsApp innovated". I think it would be neglectful not to see what works and attempt to replicate that success.
I don't think this is a condemnation of Facebook, it's just interesting to see how these conversations are being conducted at a very high level.
Re: Internal emails show Zuckerberg and Facebook execs discuss cloning competitors
#96 man week for a "message read" animation. What the hell? Am I reading that right ?
Re: Internal emails show Zuckerberg and Facebook execs discuss cloning competitors
#10I've heard this strategy referred to as "follow the follower." Apparently it comes from sailing, where if you want to maintain a lead all you need to do is copy what the boat behind you is doing.