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Mark Zuckerberg directed Meta to create a prediction markets app

nytimes.com

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Re: Mark Zuckerberg directed Meta to create a prediction markets app

#41

Post by sc68cal »

alberth wrote: post #37
etothet wrote: post #26

I've always felt that Mark Zuckerberg got lucky with Facebook and that he has no real lasting talent as a technologist or visionary. He seems to attempt to chase the latest "it" thing and has very few original ideas that actual stick long-term. He's quite the charlatan.

While I know criticizing Meta is popular, I'm not sure I'd agree with above. Social networks didn't really exist before The Facebook. Understanding the potential market that could be created and turning down a $1B acquisition from Yahoo 20-years ago, at the time, seemed insane. Also making the shift to mobile, when people thought that would be the death of FB is a remarkable story. Identifying to acquire WhatsApp & I…

> Social networks didn't really exist before The Facebook.

You never heard of MySpace?

Re: Mark Zuckerberg directed Meta to create a prediction markets app

#43

Post by rapsey »

alberth wrote: post #37
etothet wrote: post #26

I've always felt that Mark Zuckerberg got lucky with Facebook and that he has no real lasting talent as a technologist or visionary. He seems to attempt to chase the latest "it" thing and has very few original ideas that actual stick long-term. He's quite the charlatan.

While I know criticizing Meta is popular, I'm not sure I'd agree with above. Social networks didn't really exist before The Facebook. Understanding the potential market that could be created and turning down a $1B acquisition from Yahoo 20-years ago, at the time, seemed insane. Also making the shift to mobile, when people thought that would be the death of FB is a remarkable story. Identifying to acquire WhatsApp & I…

> Social networks didn't really exist before The Facebook

Social networks were all the rage. He executed the best of all and had the right strategy to build the user base.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg directed Meta to create a prediction markets app

#44

Post by [deleted] »

soperj wrote: post #25
ben_w wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He copied the analog thing of the same name in his university that was taking too long to digitise: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Face_book

There's a whole movie about it. He was employed to create a social media platform, and ended up stealing the code to do it for himself instead.

[deleted]

Re: Mark Zuckerberg directed Meta to create a prediction markets app

#45

Post by blahblaher »

alberth wrote: post #37
etothet wrote: post #26

I've always felt that Mark Zuckerberg got lucky with Facebook and that he has no real lasting talent as a technologist or visionary. He seems to attempt to chase the latest "it" thing and has very few original ideas that actual stick long-term. He's quite the charlatan.

While I know criticizing Meta is popular, I'm not sure I'd agree with above. Social networks didn't really exist before The Facebook. Understanding the potential market that could be created and turning down a $1B acquisition from Yahoo 20-years ago, at the time, seemed insane. Also making the shift to mobile, when people thought that would be the death of FB is a remarkable story. Identifying to acquire WhatsApp & I…

That's not true though. Social network sites existed, just not so "centralized" and "viral". Facebook created a simple and more user-friendly interface. WhatsApp as it understand, does not make much if any money. Instagram is a cash cow due.

They have released some good open source technology, but as the OP said, Meta hasn't much going for it apart from addictive apps for showing ads

Re: Mark Zuckerberg directed Meta to create a prediction markets app

#46

Post by gowld »

ben_w wrote: post #20
soperj wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How did he come up with Facebook?

He copied the analog thing of the same name in his university that was taking too long to digitise: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Face_book

It was already digitized. He wanted to make a version without security and privacy protections.

He also copied Friendster.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg directed Meta to create a prediction markets app

#47

Post by oulipo2 »

etothet wrote: post #26

I've always felt that Mark Zuckerberg got lucky with Facebook and that he has no real lasting talent as a technologist or visionary. He seems to attempt to chase the latest "it" thing and has very few original ideas that actual stick long-term. He's quite the charlatan.

Same for Elon and Paypal

Re: Mark Zuckerberg directed Meta to create a prediction markets app

#48

Post by Zigurd »

Aboutplants wrote: post #31

So many baby boomers are about to lose their savings. Meta knows their bread is buttered by the 55+ age group and capitalizing on the vulnerable social media addicted elders will be extremely profitable.

My university admissions interview took place next to an old tech nerd's model train layout. Today, the same kind of person would be up all night posting about trans people on X. I blame a lot of our current problems on the decline of model trains and stamp collecting. You are spot on about social media addiction among the olds.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg directed Meta to create a prediction markets app

#49

Post by solid_fuel »

darth_avocado wrote: post #22
NikxDa wrote: post #4

I can‘t help but wonder what goes on inside of the upper management of these big companies, and why nobody ever stops for a moment to think about whether what they are up to does any good for the end users beyond making more money. But then again, this is very on brand for Meta/Zuck, so I‘m not surprised.

Zuckerberg could’ve made a YouTube competitor or a Netflix competitor given that he already has a platform for video sharing and an ads infrastructure. But I guess the guys at the top are so smart that they don’t bother themselves when copying ideas to actually copy something that makes sense.

> Zuckerberg could’ve made a YouTube competitor or a Netflix competitor given that he already has a platform for video sharing and an ads infrastructure

Facebook has no content production experience though, and when they do dip their toes into that market its via AI slop (like their official AI accounts on instagram). I think this is because they don't value the human element of art at all.

They would be entirely reliant other content providers, which is a rough place to be in when you have to deal with actual studios and not just independent creators. Independent creators are easier for Facebook to exploit since they are usually small operations and dependent on facebook/instagram for market reach.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg directed Meta to create a prediction markets app

#50

Post by Groxx »

alberth wrote: post #37
etothet wrote: post #26

I've always felt that Mark Zuckerberg got lucky with Facebook and that he has no real lasting talent as a technologist or visionary. He seems to attempt to chase the latest "it" thing and has very few original ideas that actual stick long-term. He's quite the charlatan.

While I know criticizing Meta is popular, I'm not sure I'd agree with above. Social networks didn't really exist before The Facebook. Understanding the potential market that could be created and turning down a $1B acquisition from Yahoo 20-years ago, at the time, seemed insane. Also making the shift to mobile, when people thought that would be the death of FB is a remarkable story. Identifying to acquire WhatsApp & I…

>Social networks didn't really exist before The Facebook.

Seriously? Of course they did. An easy counter-example is MySpace, which launched several months before Facebook's very first appearance as a Hot Or Not mimic (which predates Zuck by 3 years), and had many millions more users for years (especially while FB was restricted to colleges).

Major competition and a lot of money was going into social media around then (and for a couple years prior), FB is just the eventual winner.

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