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Meta shares drop 20% on Q4 earnings miss, weak outlook

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Re: Meta shares drop 20% on Q4 earnings miss, weak outlook

#331

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They can always try the same strategy GCP adopted: huge discounts. If you’re paying retail for GCP, you are getting fleeced.

I just think they're out of time at this point to get in on B2B cloud computing... they may have the know how to build great data centers and stuff but there is a lot of work to go from "FB only" to "Anyone". Let's say they jump into this, what is the earliest they could realistically start taking customers 18 months? Then you need to convince companies to adopt or migrate stuff onto a fledgling new platform. They ha…

while i'm sure they could get something out the door in 6-12 months that would satisfy somebody somewhere, I'd say more like 3+ years before you'd have anything that any companies would start betting the farm on.

Re: Meta shares drop 20% on Q4 earnings miss, weak outlook

#332

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> My feed is full of shit I don’t want I don't log in to Facebook very often, but when I do it's not bad at all. I scroll through a few updates from friends and family and catch up with a few people, then I close it for another week or two. There isn't just one "Facebook" that we all see, obviously. Your feed is going to be a reflection of the groups you've joined and the friends you keep (and haven't muted). If you'…

Finally, someone with a similar Facebook experience to my own. I've been reading threads about how horrific the FB feed is for years, but my own is literally 99% updates from friends I don't get to see, and an occasional ad (that is interesting more often than not). Glad to know I'm not completely alone!

Listen, I am really glad it works for someone! I miss those days. It just feels like a total loss for me and starting to sort through why just feels like a seriously daunting task for a dubious result. I have found ways to keep up with friends that are better (mostly text messaging) and so that’s what I stick to. FB was that for a few years but whatever happened to my feed feels like it can’t be undone.

Re: Meta shares drop 20% on Q4 earnings miss, weak outlook

#333

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I think you're forgetting about the reason why they switch names in the first place. Meta is signaling that they are all in with their own hardware platform.

It's not about hardware really. The hardware is just to sell the service in the best way possible. They had to make it. Because there was no good affordable standalone headset so far. The metaverse idea is all about the platform/service. I'm a big VR fan and even I'm not sure whether the metaverse will take off. But without hardware like the quest 2 it wouldn't have a chance.

The service is key, but I somehow doubt they will open their platform to 3rd party hardware like Valve. imo The hardware is just as important.

Re: Meta shares drop 20% on Q4 earnings miss, weak outlook

#335
post #16
post #5

Apple vs ad-tech is a really interesting battle. It shows the immense power Apple has in the consumer market today, where they can affect some of the largest businesses in the US unilaterally. Meta is in a very tricky position in that unless they put up an actual paywall users don’t really have any incentive to allow tracking. But putting up a paywall introduces a lot of friction, not to mention the adverse selection…

The idea of buying something based on an advertisement and not a need is foreign to me. What is a kind of ad that you consider to be “relevant”? I just block all of them so I might just not be aware of the potential.

While some ads drive impulse purchases, much ads are getting brands into your decision consideration.

E.g When you need something of you have 100's of options. If you saw an ad previously it now might be 1 of several products you compare as you are aware and familiar. The product still has to impress you on price and quality etc but the ad drove you to consider it. That is hugely important in a crowded marketplace. Also that ad might have shifted you perception of quality or features.

And ultimately 'need' is a very subjective thing. I highly doubt if you look around your house there is nothing you couldn't throw away and not get on with life as normal. Ads can make you feel like you need something at the time. That's why so many ads rely on fear based propositions, this emotion is strong in creating need like showing negative events for insurance.

Re: Meta shares drop 20% on Q4 earnings miss, weak outlook

#336
post #69

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I think maybe they banked too heavily on getting their crypto Libra/Diem going in order to power monetization of WhatsApp/Instagram. It could have been as slick as Weixin/WeChat pay and dominate the cross currency remittance market.

Except crypto is a pump and dump scam and most people know that. It was obvious from the start that libra was a “fellow kids” attempt to capitalize on the blockchain hype.

I disagree, Libra had absolutely massive potential with Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp behind it. Stabilized by multiple fiat currencies it would hold value well, and it could power a global Venmo (via WhatsApp), capture a large portion of the entire remittance market, simplify e-commerce payments, and maybe even support micro transactions at scale. I’m sure I’m missing other large benefits.

The West is mostly so far behind on payment processing it’s a joke. Stripe charges 2.9% + $0.30 while WeChat Pay is 0.6% and Alipay .55%.

Re: Meta shares drop 20% on Q4 earnings miss, weak outlook

#337

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This is what I've never understood. These estimates are just that, estimates. They are guesses, potentially educated guesses based on some data, but guesses/hopes/prayers none the less. It's like sports teams and all of the talking heads giving their opinions on the upcoming matches. In sports, it's called betting. But in business, it's called investing. It's the same thing, only one is more widely accepted an legal.

> In sports, it's called betting. But in business, it's called investing. It's the same thing, only one is more widely accepted an legal. One incentivizes people to build iPhones and the other takes money from poor people.

The poor people can also buy stocks in an attempt to "win big". It's just much easier to approach a bookie that doesn't care about status compared to a broker who wouldn't be so welcoming to certain clientele.

Re: Meta shares drop 20% on Q4 earnings miss, weak outlook

#338
post #147

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The phone carriers. They charged a fortune for data, restricted useful features on your phone (I remember one model which wouldn't play non-DRMed music because they wanted to boost their revenue), and things like mobile apps were held back by the way the carriers would look at your finances and decide how much to charge just for the privilege of being listed. When Qualcomm was getting started with BREW we looked into…

How did Apple change any of this? (Genuine question - I am not well versed in cellular network technologies or their history, but I would love to read about how Apple led to improvements in the US infrastructure.)

There's a decent (though high level) explanation here: https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2017/07/04/how-ipho...

It's actually kind of hard to articulate how bad things were in the early-mid 2000s with respect to carriers all trying to push their own garbage and monetize absolutely everything possible.

Re: Meta shares drop 20% on Q4 earnings miss, weak outlook

#339
post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The phone carriers. They charged a fortune for data, restricted useful features on your phone (I remember one model which wouldn't play non-DRMed music because they wanted to boost their revenue), and things like mobile apps were held back by the way the carriers would look at your finances and decide how much to charge just for the privilege of being listed. When Qualcomm was getting started with BREW we looked into…

How did Apple change any of this? (Genuine question - I am not well versed in cellular network technologies or their history, but I would love to read about how Apple led to improvements in the US infrastructure.)

It wasn't on the network side but rather the business side, where Apple had an unexpected amount of leverage due to its popularity: the iPod was incredibly popular — not just selling well but being a prestige item with an outsized cultural impact — and AT&T was eager enough to get the iPhone that they were willing to give up a significant amount of control over the device and its data plans.

Previously, the U.S. carriers were basically king-makers selecting which devices were available for sale and what features were enabled on them — to the point where I knew a couple of people who imported phones from Europe to get something which either wasn't available from a U.S. carrier or was restricted to one they didn't wish to be a customer of for some reason (e.g. poor coverage), and it wasn't uncommon to hear about people reflashing phone firmware to remove things like the carrier's wallpaper or preinstalled apps which the user was prevented from deleting. I refreshed a phone simply to change the audio codec settings because Cingular had restricted it to the lowest-bitrate which was painfully garbled.

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