Facebook's TikTok-like redesign marks sunset of social networking era • Hacker News Board

Re: Facebook's TikTok-like redesign marks sunset of social networking era

#251

Post by nowherebeen » Wed, Jul 27, 2022, 4:48 AM UTC

robswc wrote: post #184

nowherebeen wrote: post #36

I recently download the Facebook app to sell something in the marketplace. It has become so bloated and un-user friendly, I question why anyone would use it on a daily basis. The new feeds is a bunch of irrelevant posts I don’t care about. I guess it was bound to happen when you hire thousands of workers to work on one app. It’s been optimized into a deformed monster.

Exactly. I never really got it until I grew up and ditched the social media apps but when people say "its just nonsense" it truly is just nonsense. It's "news" for the sake of news. Do I need to know there was a robbery in some town a few states over? Do I need to know Selena Gomez celebrated her birthday in a pink brand dress? Do I need to know Trump recently returned to DC for the first time in a year? (taken from…

You hit the nail on the head. News for news sake; drama for drama sake. At some point we need to realize this and give up on it.

It does nothing to help us in life other than give us misery. There are enough problems in life to handle. I don’t need to know about the drama of another stranger.

Re: Facebook's TikTok-like redesign marks sunset of social networking era

#252

Post by prawn » Wed, Jul 27, 2022, 4:51 AM UTC

KaoruAoiShiho wrote: post #101

xwdv wrote: post #74

It’s crazy to think the social media era may finally be ending. There’s really no viable platform anymore where you can just go passively keep up with what friends and acquaintances are doing. Everything is about feeding you content you didn’t ask for but may be targeted enough to catch your attention. And for what? To show you some ads here and there? To collect data that can be used to… sell more ads and products?…

> There’s really no viable platform anymore where you can just go passively keep up with what friends and acquaintances are doing. Is this something that people really want to do though... I did that for a bit back when fb was still new but quickly and I mean quickly fell off the habit and stopped using fb.

In theory, yes. But maybe the average circle of friends and acquaintances isn't sticky enough without more encouragement, karma, whatever? I don't mind if a platform feels quiet because it takes less time to keep up with, but the platform itself would see a downturn as a serious failing.

Re: Facebook's TikTok-like redesign marks sunset of social networking era

#253

Post by gibolt » Wed, Jul 27, 2022, 4:52 AM UTC

me_again wrote: post #218

hiimshort wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've enjoyed the analogy so adding onto it: Google would open up 5 competing, different burger places next to each other and then close them all down a year later, confused that none of them did well enough. All to open a new Taco stand on the other side of town and claim it's got the same great food you liked before (it doesn't).

Apple would sell exactly one kind of burger, which is great but costs $20. The wrapper is rose gold or space grey. Only Apple-certified condiments can be applied to the burgers, and a packet of ketchup is $5. Each year the faithful queue outside for the privilege of obtaining the latest burger.

Microsoft would license their burger recipe. All the licensees would sell unique, subpar versions. They'd also for some reason have a $10 billion contract to supply burgers to the military.

Re: Facebook's TikTok-like redesign marks sunset of social networking era

#254

Post by rvz » Wed, Jul 27, 2022, 4:53 AM UTC

threeseed wrote: post #97

groffee wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook is dying, but not because of TikTok. Facebook is dying because they stopped being Facebook. If they gave what's left of their userbase what they actually wanted (chronological feed, seeing friends posts, not seeing spam, more ways to interact (bring back pets, gifts, superpokes etc)) they'd do ok. It doesn't help that their core code is a steaming pile of bloated dung that doesn't seem to be tested by anyone…

> Facebook is dying because they stopped being Facebook a) No evidence they are dying. All we have is a single quarter's result i.e. statistically meaningless. b) No evidence that staying true to the original Facebook is the best strategy. Unquestionably, Stories has been a popular feature in both Instagram and Facebook ecosystems and perhaps certain features from TikTok will be the same. But there is plenty of evide…

> But there is plenty of evidence that the opinions of HN, Reddit etc. often do not match that of the broader public and so should be taken with a grain of salt.

There is a lot of biases and nonsense in here and in the news being spread around over the death of Facebook (Meta) or even the beginning of its death, which has been greatly exaggerated.

They will be around for another 10+ years.

Re: Facebook's TikTok-like redesign marks sunset of social networking era

#255

Post by saurik » Wed, Jul 27, 2022, 4:53 AM UTC

karmasimida wrote: post #195

groffee wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook is dying, but not because of TikTok. Facebook is dying because they stopped being Facebook. If they gave what's left of their userbase what they actually wanted (chronological feed, seeing friends posts, not seeing spam, more ways to interact (bring back pets, gifts, superpokes etc)) they'd do ok. It doesn't help that their core code is a steaming pile of bloated dung that doesn't seem to be tested by anyone…

> (chronological feed, seeing friends posts, not seeing spam, more ways to interact (bring back pets, gifts, superpokes etc)) they'd do ok. I don't think so. TikTok is vastly more addictive and fresh in its content. How much content can your circle creating in a day? No more than 20 posts I would say? If facebook stays being facebook, they will die anyway. Problem in facebook right now, there isn't enough people to i…

I think the core issue here is that Facebook can't afford to merely "do OK": they have to "make a gazillion dollars and take over the world with an ever-increasing source of bottomless revenue" or they are considered "a failure".

Re: Facebook's TikTok-like redesign marks sunset of social networking era

#256

Post by poglet » Wed, Jul 27, 2022, 4:53 AM UTC

caseyross wrote: post #145

xwdv wrote: post #74

It’s crazy to think the social media era may finally be ending. There’s really no viable platform anymore where you can just go passively keep up with what friends and acquaintances are doing. Everything is about feeding you content you didn’t ask for but may be targeted enough to catch your attention. And for what? To show you some ads here and there? To collect data that can be used to… sell more ads and products?…

It really is weird, isn't it? To have what was essentially a solved problem 10 years ago become... what you described. On Facebook/Instagram/Twitter/LinkedIn, I still have tons of people I'd be interesting in passively keeping up with. Maybe even actively, sometimes. But all that latent sociality is increasingly just dead out of the gate, seeing as I no longer use any of those platforms regularly. My closest friends,…

I agree. I setup a Discord server for a few friends and it turned out to be infinitely better then current social media platforms when it came to keeping up with what everyone was up to.

Re: Facebook's TikTok-like redesign marks sunset of social networking era

#257

Post by xwowsersx » Wed, Jul 27, 2022, 4:54 AM UTC

kinghtown wrote: post #249

thex10 wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There’s really no viable platform anymore where you can just go passively keep up with what friends and acquaintances are doing. IMO it’s pointless to “passively keep up with what friends and acquaintances are doing”. We should either actively keep up (thus actually maintain the relationship), or let it go~

Sure, but there is a desire or even need to have robust and interactive options in our communication devices for keeping in touch with all the people we know in a more inclusive and less active way than just directly messaging or calling a specific person, which to be clear people are still doing. People want something like Facebook as an option. It has usefulness- sharing photos, inviting people to events, a simple…

Not everything we desire is good for us. Also, there is a need? How so?

Re: Facebook's TikTok-like redesign marks sunset of social networking era

#258

Post by prawn » Wed, Jul 27, 2022, 4:55 AM UTC

AmericanChopper wrote: post #70

RichardCNormos wrote: post #25

> TikTok-style "discovery engine" model shares many of the same problems. > - Posts are even less rooted in a web of social relationship. > - The larger the crowd, the louder the threshold for speech to be heard. This is prescient. The "social media" of today is more like Napster than it is like the the early-2000s Facebook: * People look for content that they want (political rage, softcore pornography, funny videos)…

Yet somehow me and my group of friends all use Instagram to keep in touch in the same way we’ve done for years, and in the same way we will likely continue to do so for years longer, mostly undisturbed by the changes that come and go…

I try to use it the same way but find the changes disturbing. More and more ads. More and more suggested content. The ratio of stuff I'm there to see versus the stuff I don't want to see isn't very good in 2022.

Re: Facebook's TikTok-like redesign marks sunset of social networking era

#259

Post by kristopolous » Wed, Jul 27, 2022, 4:56 AM UTC

civilized wrote: post #181

xwdv wrote: post #74

It’s crazy to think the social media era may finally be ending. There’s really no viable platform anymore where you can just go passively keep up with what friends and acquaintances are doing. Everything is about feeding you content you didn’t ask for but may be targeted enough to catch your attention. And for what? To show you some ads here and there? To collect data that can be used to… sell more ads and products?…

> …unless perhaps… we build a social network on the blockchain Ah yes, the one thing that would be worse than the status quo.

Why don't you see, we'll solve the social dysfunction created by a commercialized monetized internet by hypercommercialization and monetizing it even more!

There is no alternative! It'll be the end of history!

Re: Facebook's TikTok-like redesign marks sunset of social networking era

#260

Post by alonmower » Wed, Jul 27, 2022, 4:56 AM UTC

Drew_ wrote: post #112

ulfw wrote: post #73

What's going on with Facebook product management? It's shocking to see core products deteriorate, others barely every improve (where's instagram and whatsapp for iPad?), while competitors (these days tiktok, before Snap) are merely imitated years later. Actually kind of sad to see considering I'm a big fan of Social and 'Meta' has been on the forefront for years. I hope they find a way to rethink this.

> What's going on with Facebook product management? The culture of Facebook is to drive metrics so they're doing their job just fine according to this.

Ya, this is it. Myopically metrics driven cultures like this have a failure mode where you're too successful at chasing the metrics and the organization's sense of taste atrophies (you grow to lose trust in your taste because it's disagreed with the metrics so often, or other people push back on it because the metrics say ____)

So there you are: your organization has no taste or ability to create 'good' things that people enjoy, you're also so large that big or wild bets are too hard for the org to stomach. What options do you really have? Pretty much just 1) buy companies or 2) fade into obsolescence...