The only threat to Facebook is a younger user base moving away from them and they have done an excellent job mitigating that via Instagram and WhatsApp. Zuck is a lot of things but shortsighted is not one of them.
Facebook is nearing a reputational point of no return
41–50 of 609 posts
Re: Facebook is nearing a reputational point of no return
#42I don't really know much about US politics, but could this recent attack on Facebook be a political move and a power grab? Attack FB so they block certain groups / certain topics and promote what the regulators want? I listened to the whistle-blower's testimony and I didn't hear any reasonable solutions (in my opinion at least; I am a software developer myself). Also, it seems there might be some regulations imposed.…
Stratechery makes a pretty solid argument that the calls for regulating "fake news" in general and Facebook in particular is a Democratic reaction to getting outfoxed by Trump's use of social media in 2016:
Re: Facebook is nearing a reputational point of no return
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
Facebook went down for 6 hours and they are back to using it the next day without a second of hesitation. Maybe WhatsApp was affected by some people who, so I've heard, rely on it heavily. They may have (smartly) switched to a more decentralized platform to handle their critical communications. So did they shed some edge-case users? Sure. Will it matter in the long run? Not at all.
> Facebook went down for 6 hours and they are back to using it the next day without a second of hesitation. Why is that relevant at all? If I have a blackout for six hours, I'm gonna go back to using electricity once it's back.
YoUre aDDIcTeD to ElecTriCity
Re: Facebook is nearing a reputational point of no return
#44No. That’s what people like us and all the main stream media hope for. But: most people I know don’t have the slightest clue that Insta and WhatsApp belong to the FB group. And even worse: most of them don’t give a shit about the reputation of FB. They just want to send messages and share pictures through those apps.
Article doesn't disagree with your take: "The firm risks joining the ranks of corporate untouchables like big tobacco. If that idea takes hold, Facebook risks losing its young, liberal staff. Even if its ageing customers stick with the social network, Facebook has bigger ambitions that could be foiled if public opinion continues to curdle."
> Facebook risks losing its young, liberal staff.
Spot on, and not just young, liberal. Old-ish and privacy minded. Mid-aged and right.
Two crowds are critical though:
- this is the talent pool: college campuses. FB's changing tone (sponsoring scholarships, sponsoring scholarships for non tech -> tech transfers, etc) is evident.
- this is the management pool: mid-30's to 40's, married, coastal EMs or PMs, that have to explain at dinner parties where they work and why they do it. See: the whistleblower.
Re: Facebook is nearing a reputational point of no return
#45No. That’s what people like us and all the main stream media hope for. But: most people I know don’t have the slightest clue that Insta and WhatsApp belong to the FB group. And even worse: most of them don’t give a shit about the reputation of FB. They just want to send messages and share pictures through those apps.
The argument being made isn't that people will stop using Facebook. It's that Facebook won't be able to hire the talent it needs. That's a longer, but more damaging feedback loop, assuming you believe it (the counter argument is they will be able to pay people enough to hire them anyway).
Yeah I dunno, I'd happily take an existing Facebook US salary if all the good engineers stopped working there.
Re: Facebook is nearing a reputational point of no return
#46No. That’s what people like us and all the main stream media hope for. But: most people I know don’t have the slightest clue that Insta and WhatsApp belong to the FB group. And even worse: most of them don’t give a shit about the reputation of FB. They just want to send messages and share pictures through those apps.
Article doesn't disagree with your take: "The firm risks joining the ranks of corporate untouchables like big tobacco. If that idea takes hold, Facebook risks losing its young, liberal staff. Even if its ageing customers stick with the social network, Facebook has bigger ambitions that could be foiled if public opinion continues to curdle."
Where will that young liberal staff go work for? I suspect once too much of good life perks are not available at FB maybe their outlook itself change a bit.
Re: Facebook is nearing a reputational point of no return
#47This whole circus is about as contrived as it gets, complete with the "think of the children" gimmick. The timing, the theatrics, the manufactured celebrity of a middle manager at Facebook who is doing the "right" kind of whistleblowing that the establishment likes.
Facebook's predatory business model isn't unique or new. This is about raw power to censor.
Re: Facebook is nearing a reputational point of no return
#48FB has been through so many scandals in the past four years and literally nothing seems to materially affect the company. At least not their stock. Bloomberg has a nice rundown of the past crises and how quickly it rebounded every time:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-10-06/facebook-...
Re: Facebook is nearing a reputational point of no return
#49They still have more fans than syphilis.
If the postal service came up with an ICQ / message board; or hell even mastodon servers for Zip codes, they might kill the beast.
I'm sure local postmasters would love to add a "online clerk" or two to their staff, to deal with the server level local dramas. The opportunity to pay for it with "bulk mail" analog advertising is obvious too. All guided by the loving hands of a questionably responsible quasi-governmental bureaucracy led by shady appointees.
Re: Facebook is nearing a reputational point of no return
#50Why is this article dated October 9th? Did they release it early to counter a slow news day?