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Facebook Home ads show Facebook at its worst

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Re: Facebook Home ads show Facebook at its worst

#21
post #4

Advertising Facebook as the perfect tool for the completely unconscious is a most unfortunate choice. I have only seen the airplane ad and while I was watching it I was wondering if they are being ironic. The hero of the ad so to speak is this guy who thinks everything around him is oh so boring so he escapes to the colorful fantasy world provided by his facebook phone. I was waiting for the punch line only it never…

Have you ever boarded an airplane before? For me it's about two minutes of waiting behind people putting up bags, 30 seconds of stowing bags and sitting down, and then fifteen minutes of going through all my chats and social sites hoping somebody has said something interesting since they called my boarding group.

I have never been on a plane. I'd be nervous and excited, and would take in as much as I can see. I'd look at my stupid phone for exactly zero seconds.

Re: Facebook Home ads show Facebook at its worst

#22
These ads are a little strange, but perhaps Facebook is targeting the younger demographic with short attention spans? Perhaps in light of the recent market reports that suggest teenagers are losing interest in Facebook?

Assuming this might be the case, think back when you were a teenager.

Family meals were really monotonous when all you could think about is running back upstairs and resuming your IM sessions with your friends.

Boarding planes (not flying in them mind you) is hella boring and if you look around today, almost everybody who has taken his/her seat is glued to their phones to ease the banality of the entire process.

And the droning out of the CEO? Well, maybe that was Facebook's feeble, yet well-intentioned attempt to poke fun at themselves. Who can't appreciate a little self-deprecating humor?

Finally, I could be completely wrong and Facebook needs to hire a new agency to handle their media image.

Re: Facebook Home ads show Facebook at its worst

#24

My first reaction on seeing the goat ad was negative. Why they chose to advertise this as an antisocial product which helps you disengage from ACTUAL social activity escaped me. I once wrote a blog boat decrying the attitude of many of my European friends and family (who I see and keep up with on Facebook of course) for their attitude summed up on the phrase "I don't live to work, I work to live" ...while this sounds…

[deleted]

Re: Facebook Home ads show Facebook at its worst

#25
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you ever boarded an airplane before? For me it's about two minutes of waiting behind people putting up bags, 30 seconds of stowing bags and sitting down, and then fifteen minutes of going through all my chats and social sites hoping somebody has said something interesting since they called my boarding group.

I have never been on a plane. I'd be nervous and excited, and would take in as much as I can see. I'd look at my stupid phone for exactly zero seconds.

That wears off pretty quickly. After about 30 mins in the air, to quote Frankie Boyle, you are just in a tin can full of other people's farts.

I hate flying. It was once exciting but the airport drudge and being packed in like cattle just kills it now.

Re: Facebook Home ads show Facebook at its worst

#26

My first reaction on seeing the goat ad was negative. Why they chose to advertise this as an antisocial product which helps you disengage from ACTUAL social activity escaped me. I once wrote a blog boat decrying the attitude of many of my European friends and family (who I see and keep up with on Facebook of course) for their attitude summed up on the phrase "I don't live to work, I work to live" ...while this sounds…

> My first reaction on seeing the goat ad was negative. Why they chose to advertise this as an antisocial product which helps you disengage from ACTUAL social activity escaped me.

Because they want to promote disengaging from actual social activities and browsing facebook instead.

> Sharing "experiences" is nowhere near as good as actually having experiences, being present fully in the moment, in the company of others similarly engaged.

Yes, but "actually having experiences" doesn't give you a chance to watch facebook ads, while "sharing experiences" does.

It's your business to know what's better for you and their business to know what's better for them. Facebook isn't a charity.

Re: Facebook Home ads show Facebook at its worst

#27
post #15

I still don't know why I click medium.com links here, the site does not work on android thanks to shit CSS

We'll look into that. Thanks.

Basic Opera Mini support would be nice too.

https://twitter.com/sausaw/status/320064095321722880

Re: Facebook Home ads show Facebook at its worst

#28
> [...]friends around the world who can celebrate with them immediately from their phones.

I get the part of the videos, but is this guy delusional? We don't live in an advert, so we don't send out PR quality photo's, or celebrate a friends something by 'like'ing a photo. You do that by calling your friend and congratulate. Social networks is marketing itself as a replacement for actual networks, which is catastrophic.

Re: Facebook Home ads show Facebook at its worst

#29
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you ever boarded an airplane before? For me it's about two minutes of waiting behind people putting up bags, 30 seconds of stowing bags and sitting down, and then fifteen minutes of going through all my chats and social sites hoping somebody has said something interesting since they called my boarding group.

I have never been on a plane. I'd be nervous and excited, and would take in as much as I can see. I'd look at my stupid phone for exactly zero seconds.

Takeoff, landing, and the flight in between is awesome. I've not flown enough for that to get old. However, the time spend waiting to get ON the plane, or waiting for it to start taxiing, is _amazingly_ boring. Imagine waiting in line to get in an elevator, and then once you're inside, you have to wait ... and wait ... and then the elevator attendants give the mandatory safety spiel that you can't see well, and then finally it starts to move after ten minutes.

That's roughly what the pre-launch portion of an airplane trip is like, and I wholeheartedly empathize with someone traveling alone wanting to mentally escape it.

Re: Facebook Home ads show Facebook at its worst

#30
post #6

So there is an interesting "issue" with Facebook which is that Facebook has so many users that when even a very small fraction of them thinks Facebook should be something that Facebook isn't trying to be, its a lot of people disconnected from the "vision". The issue is in quotes because for some this is a non-problem, these people don't get it and they will eventually move on. For others it is a huge problem because…

That "issue" is something I've been trying to put into words for a while now and you did it very very well. I think that absolutely describes the dynamics between Facebook and the reaction of subsets of users every time the company releases a new product.
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