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Instagram is shifting to videos – users aren't happy

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Re: Instagram is shifting to videos – users aren't happy

#21

Post by Willish42 »

fdgsdfogijq wrote: post #9

Theory on facebook failure/Google failure to innovate: They have the highest leetcode standards out of FAANG. As does Snap. They hire people that basically memorized computer science algorithms. And so their employees are bookish, not innovative people. Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon do not have the same issues with creating new products. Keith Rabois (top VC), mentioned that FB has always prioritized optimization over…

> The opposing point of view would be that Ads on FB/Google are so profitable that working on anything else pales in comparision (in terms of profit generation). And so they dont innovate, but iterate and optimize.

This argument is basically the same posed in the Innovator's Dilemma, and IMO it's more on the money at least for Google. The high hiring bar for Google was arguably much higher in its earlier years, when they were still innovating like crazy. Becoming a larger company, having a larger executive team instead of Larry and Sergey, and optimizing for profits rather than moonshots and "creative" projects like Loon, Wing, and even projects with a lot of internal support like Inbox all have an effect trending towards "less entrepreneurial".

People also seem to generally have a pretty big bias towards Cloud not being considered "entrepreneurial", while still having a huge engineering opportunity cost. You're comparing Facebook and Google but Google has spun out a #3 Cloud provider in the last ~7 years that people largely ignore despite that making up almost half of Google's employee count at the moment.

Re: Instagram is shifting to videos – users aren't happy

#22

Post by mnd999 »

“I guarantee that every single person who liked and shared that post about bringing Instagram back to what it was, would spend way less time on Instagram if it reverted back to how it used to be”

Sure, because they could get the information they want without having to wade through the mountains of crap you’re pumping out of the septic tank into your users faces. You’re optimising the wrong metric you fucking clown.

Re: Instagram is shifting to videos – users aren't happy

#23

Post by fdgsdfogijq »

Apocryphon wrote: post #18
fdgsdfogijq wrote: post #9

Theory on facebook failure/Google failure to innovate: They have the highest leetcode standards out of FAANG. As does Snap. They hire people that basically memorized computer science algorithms. And so their employees are bookish, not innovative people. Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon do not have the same issues with creating new products. Keith Rabois (top VC), mentioned that FB has always prioritized optimization over…

How much leetcoding do their PMs do? I understand your overall point, but I don't think having a high algorithmic/data structures whiteboarding bar for their engineers correlates to Facebook's weakening product abilities. Ditto for Google.

I think it does. As much as companies want to believe that product runs the product, an engineer that can create new things that influences the product is massively more valuable. Amazon commonly has engineers drive new innovations, product people nowhere to be seen

Re: Instagram is shifting to videos – users aren't happy

#24

Post by alexashka »

system16 wrote: post #14

It's fascinating how reactionary and directionless Instagram and Facebook have become. Instagram in particular has become Frankenstein's monster over the last few years, pathetically trying to reproduce functionality from other apps. The latest cloning of TikTok's feed is almost embarrassing. It's a testament to how deep the lack of a creative culture at Meta runs.

What creative culture? A billion user beast does not know, need or want creative or culture.

It wants profits and more of them, every quarter.

TikTok's only 'innovation' is paying billions of dollars to teenagers to create meme videos. Instagram isn't losing to TikTok's 'creative culture', it's losing to American elite's favorite move - throwing money at a problem until everyone else quits, at which point you give talks and write books about how it was due to innovation, freedom and democracy, oh and LGBTQ+ or whatever the term is nowadays.

Source: know a couple of people who could barely scrape by on Instagram/youtube, switched to TikTok and are all of a sudden making more money than me. The infinite money faucet at TikTok will soon run dry and it'll become just another shit social media platform, like all the rest.

Re: Instagram is shifting to videos – users aren't happy

#26

Post by dhosek »

fdgsdfogijq wrote: post #9

Theory on facebook failure/Google failure to innovate: They have the highest leetcode standards out of FAANG. As does Snap. They hire people that basically memorized computer science algorithms. And so their employees are bookish, not innovative people. Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon do not have the same issues with creating new products. Keith Rabois (top VC), mentioned that FB has always prioritized optimization over…

I interviewed at Amazon in 2008ish and it was very leetcode-ish in its interview process. I remember whiteboarding a garbage collector.

In any event, few companies have product direction set by engineering. There might be influence, but product tends to be a different set of employees than engineering.

Re: Instagram is shifting to videos – users aren't happy

#27

Post by riquito »

fdgsdfogijq wrote: post #9

Theory on facebook failure/Google failure to innovate: They have the highest leetcode standards out of FAANG. As does Snap. They hire people that basically memorized computer science algorithms. And so their employees are bookish, not innovative people. Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon do not have the same issues with creating new products. Keith Rabois (top VC), mentioned that FB has always prioritized optimization over…

Unlikely: developers do not decide what features to implement, at least in companies of that size, so whether they interviewed with leetcode or not shouldn't matter

Re: Instagram is shifting to videos – users aren't happy

#28

Post by cm2187 »

fdgsdfogijq wrote: post #9

Theory on facebook failure/Google failure to innovate: They have the highest leetcode standards out of FAANG. As does Snap. They hire people that basically memorized computer science algorithms. And so their employees are bookish, not innovative people. Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon do not have the same issues with creating new products. Keith Rabois (top VC), mentioned that FB has always prioritized optimization over…

You can also take the life out of any willingness to innovate with enough compliance policies, controls, code standards, and bureaucracy. That's why large companies fossilize.

Re: Instagram is shifting to videos – users aren't happy

#29

Post by kache_ »

fdgsdfogijq wrote: post #9

Theory on facebook failure/Google failure to innovate: They have the highest leetcode standards out of FAANG. As does Snap. They hire people that basically memorized computer science algorithms. And so their employees are bookish, not innovative people. Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon do not have the same issues with creating new products. Keith Rabois (top VC), mentioned that FB has always prioritized optimization over…

High G factor correlates with high creativity. I see a direct correlation to coming up with creative solutions and being able to solve a battery of tests.

A lot of the leetcode hate mostly exists because it's hard. And a lot of coding interview problems actually require a lot of creativity to solve.

And imagine thinking that facebook isn't innovating. Facebook is leading the future of virtual reality, and leading AI breakthroughs. What do you think facebook marketplace usage is like? Just because you don't like getting tested doesn't mean people who test well can't innovate. No matter how much you trick yourself into thinking that Facebook/Meta won't stand the test of time, it has and it will.

Re: Instagram is shifting to videos – users aren't happy

#30

Post by bognition »

fdgsdfogijq wrote: post #9

Theory on facebook failure/Google failure to innovate: They have the highest leetcode standards out of FAANG. As does Snap. They hire people that basically memorized computer science algorithms. And so their employees are bookish, not innovative people. Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon do not have the same issues with creating new products. Keith Rabois (top VC), mentioned that FB has always prioritized optimization over…

I mostly agree with you here.

The other big thing is that Zuckerberg is really good at seeing the business value in other people's ideas. He chases financial value by copying what other companies do.

Instead companies like Amazon and Apple are obsessed with generating real world value for the customers and let financial value follow.

Without a doubt Zuck sets the business culture, people that think like him and solve the problems he sees get rewarded. This has a massive trickle down component to the entire org.

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