381–390 of 661 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
They spied on their mobile users with the Facebook app to detect Instagram and WhatsApp growth early
By the time FB bought WhatsApp it had nearly a billion users. No need for technology conspiracy nonsense.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Instagram and WhatsApp purchases were _very_ good calls Elementary call when you have the data no-one else has thanks to illicit means and explicitly decided on a buy or bury strategy
A very HN comment... At the time, almost nobody felt spending billions acquiring these companies was "elementary". Instagram was bought so early that spending a billion on a startup was unheard of. And WhatsApp was so expensive that they questioned Zuck's sanity. You mention two strategic enablers that made these unusual acquisitions seem obvious to FB leadership. So were those two not good calls?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Depends on the bigco IMO. I'm not sure what kind of layoff numbers for Year Three of genAI would grab your attention, but I assure you, hundreds of thousands have mine.
The layoffs started years before LLMs became practical coding tools.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Even if only for how well Instagram and WhatsApp were managed post acquisition, your message doesn’t hold up. Most large tech companies buy late and struggle to integrate the products and teams they acquire without creating massive damage. He didn’t. Twice. I am quite far from a fan of what he brought to the world (privacy nightmares), but to say that he’s a proof you only need to get lucky once is quite far off.
also: face tagging in photos, the fb app platform and the like button pioneered concepts that we take for granted today. also, how product is done internally, growth metrics, all borne from facebook. The like button is an ingenious and insidious invention. It compelled every other external web property to willingly load fb sdk. It’s mind blowing how effective it is. I am morally against Facebook, but anyone that says…
Zuckerberg is proof you only need to get really lucky once. He's basically flailed at leading facebook ever since, going all in on monumentally dumb bets and erratically making headcount and project decisions, and still he somehow keeps getting richer.
And it's all back to Facebook, nothing in between. It doesn't look any different from general population influenced by TV and other social media.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Even if only for how well Instagram and WhatsApp were managed post acquisition, your message doesn’t hold up. Most large tech companies buy late and struggle to integrate the products and teams they acquire without creating massive damage. He didn’t. Twice. I am quite far from a fan of what he brought to the world (privacy nightmares), but to say that he’s a proof you only need to get lucky once is quite far off.
also: face tagging in photos, the fb app platform and the like button pioneered concepts that we take for granted today. also, how product is done internally, growth metrics, all borne from facebook. The like button is an ingenious and insidious invention. It compelled every other external web property to willingly load fb sdk. It’s mind blowing how effective it is. I am morally against Facebook, but anyone that says…
Zuckerberg is proof you only need to get really lucky once. He's basically flailed at leading facebook ever since, going all in on monumentally dumb bets and erratically making headcount and project decisions, and still he somehow keeps getting richer.
There are very few cases where the archetypical young garage-founder has stayed on top in the long-run.
Zuckerberg is proof you only need to get really lucky once. He's basically flailed at leading facebook ever since, going all in on monumentally dumb bets and erratically making headcount and project decisions, and still he somehow keeps getting richer.
HN is so extreme sometimes. I remember when Llama was gaining popularity, everyone here was praising him for releasing open models. Same for other works in this area. Also remember praise for some VR devices. And it's all back to Facebook, nothing in between. It doesn't look any different from general population influenced by TV and other social media.
Neither of which have been great commercial successes. Open source LLM's and VR devices have have been cool products for HN readers, but haven't made much impact on the public or Meta's revenue.
Whilst Instagram and Facebook Ad revenue is coming in it means Zuckerberg could spend billions pivoting the company to country and western themed steak houses and the share holders wouldn't (couldn't) do anything about it.
Zuckerberg is proof you only need to get really lucky once. He's basically flailed at leading facebook ever since, going all in on monumentally dumb bets and erratically making headcount and project decisions, and still he somehow keeps getting richer.
As a founder who has gone through scaling processes, I am quite impressed at Zuckerberg's ability to remain relatively competent and relevant at the top role throughout the whole journey. The skillset required changes quite a lot in each phase. There are very few cases where the archetypical young garage-founder has stayed on top in the long-run.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
also: face tagging in photos, the fb app platform and the like button pioneered concepts that we take for granted today. also, how product is done internally, growth metrics, all borne from facebook. The like button is an ingenious and insidious invention. It compelled every other external web property to willingly load fb sdk. It’s mind blowing how effective it is. I am morally against Facebook, but anyone that says…
We take for granted a lot of things, doesn't mean they meaningfully contribute to our lives, why is face tagging or thumbs up so special? I believe we already had upvotes and reactions on other platforms like early forums and chat platforms. Even if it was the first one to popularize it, it didn't really come about in a vacuum, the Web 2.0 at that time was all about user engagement and interactions.
I think the world is worse for it but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. The list is just to refute the idea that it was one weird trick that gave him the keys to the planet.
and it’s not about him being first or coding it himself, it’s that it happened with him at the helm. that’s just how it goes.