Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Get Facebook WiFi for your business

facebook.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

161–170 of 293 posts

Re: Get Facebook WiFi for your business

#161

Post by hrabago »

gdilla wrote: post #139
rattray wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not make a fake Facebook account? I imagine it could be useful in a number of other similar situations. (This is a serious question - I imagine there are real reasons why not, I just can't think of any myself apart from inconvenience/general principle).

I've had one for years, and he has real friends and everything. I use it for testing my own apps and signing up for other peoples apps I don't trust. But it's been a great help when there are services I want to use that require FB. Ya, against the rules, but I'm not the only one, and my fake users friends are real people who chat about politics and have liked some of the things my fake profile has liked.

The way you describe it - it stops being fake at a certain usage point - it then becomes a persona.

Re: Get Facebook WiFi for your business

#162

Post by pydave »

blueskin_ wrote: post #148
TeMPOraL wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is one of the things that really saddens me about the world we live in - we can't have nice things, because everything is being optimized for the average use case, and average people just don't care much about anything, especially quality.

It's not even for the average, because too many people are far too stupid for that and things suddenly have to be 'for everyone'. Someone with a 100 IQ and a modicum of common sense can deal with such things as an options menu, despite what google/apple/increasingly MS think.

> Someone with a 100 IQ and a modicum of common sense can deal with such things as an options menu

It depends on previous context. Myself and another career programmer couldn't figure out how to print a wikimedia image on my uncle's Surface RT. (We tried several different apps and looked for context menus in each one to provide a print option.) As far as we could tell, it couldn't be done without dropping to the desktop. My computer-illiterate uncle showed us that you can just pick print from the devices menu in the charms. (Apparently, the Charms is a hybrid system menu and app context menu.)

I didn't have any context for how Win8 works. He did. Then again, I don't know how long it took him to figure it out and whether we would have figured it out eventually.

Despite my bad experience, I'd rather see radical changes in UI instead of sticking with what "works". It only works because we're used to it. Win8 might not be a step in the right direction, but it's might lead to improvements.

Re: Get Facebook WiFi for your business

#163

Post by BHSPitMonkey »

mseebach wrote: post #13

This is a pretty good idea. It solves the coordination problem of not wanting to just provide free wifi forever to anyone by requiring a token "payment". It solves the identification problem which (unfortunately) is a requirement in many jurisdictions. And it helps non-technical business owners provide decent wifi.

> It solves the coordination problem of not wanting to just provide free wifi forever to anyone by requiring a token "payment".

Actually, it doesn't really address that at all. It doesn't discriminate against non-customers (or people in the business next door, or people in their car outside) as long as they have Facebook accounts to check in with. The upshot is that the check-in even from a non-customer is probably worth it to the owner.

> And it helps non-technical business owners provide decent wifi.

Not sure about that, either. I think it's still incumbent on the business owner to acquire and set up one of the supported "smart" routers. Facebook's only help here probably comes in the form of some documentation.

Re: Get Facebook WiFi for your business

#164

Post by carlob »

theg2 wrote: post #149
carlob wrote: post #109

Real conversation happened to me in an ice cream shop with a home-brewed facebook captive portal in Cambridge, MA. me: Excuse me, is there a way to log into the wifi if you don't have a facebook account? clerk: No, we've had a lots people doing illegal stuff on our wifi, so we need to verify their identity. me: I understand, however I don't have a facebook account. Would you like to verify my identity with a photo id…

Where is this, Toscanini? I don't think the guy running the register and dipping the ice cream has the ability to override whatever settings the tech guy put into the router for the owner in the first place but can't you just walk down the street to the free Starbucks? These are their terms, why does everyone have to argue with others about free services provided?

I'm not gonna give bad publicity to them by confirming or denying the identity of the ice cream shop.

While I'm sure I could have gone to Starbucks or used a mobile connection I was back to Cambridge after a year and I didn't have an American sim card. I'm sure this thing is no big inconvenience as a former regular customer I felt this was a downgrade from the service they used to offer and I decided to voice my dissatisfaction.

On the other hand I think that facebook being used as a replacement for identity verification both in meat-space and on the web is somewhat worrying, because facebook is neither an open standard like email or something like a passport (and I know I'm gonna get some libertarian angry) which is government issued.

In short I'm ok with a government monopoly (especially when it's a natural monopoly) or with multiple corporate interoperable choices, but a corporate monopolies are dangerous.

Re: Get Facebook WiFi for your business

#165

Post by User8712 »

Peroni wrote: post #92
ihsw wrote: post #2

And so Facebook encroaches upon the physical world to anchor itself -- storefront businesses will come to rely on Facebook to sell personalized ads. I wouldn't be surprised if Facebook gets to access data about who purchases what and when. If you don't think Google will be doing the same thing with LTE-enabled cars, think again. Their partnership with automakers is no small challenge, and the data gathering opportuni…

And so Facebook encroaches upon the physical world to anchor itself Not sure if you intended to sound so pessimistic but surely that's only a good thing? From a business perspective, this is an incredibly clever service. From a users perspective, this is an incredibly useful service. Everyone seems to forget that Facebook users are not the consumer, they are the product being sold. If, by using this service, Facebook…

Agreed, it's good for business. Increase your Facebook likes by having Facebook WiFi available to your customers, and therefore, get more traffic through the door as Facebook recommends your business to their friends.

Also, you should be able to get some kind of analytic data back from Facebook. They should be able to show you that 75% of your WiFi users are female, 18-35, or that your customers change based on time, or day of the week. Therefore, if you know younger people drink more cappuccinos, and they come in more often at noon, you can put that drink front and center. Sure, you could do this without Facebook, but it's logging who's in your store for you, so no extra work on your part.

This is even better for Facebook. Oh look, John likes to login to this coffee place, maybe we can recommend coffee ads to him. Or, more importantly, why don't we allow competing coffee shops to bid on customers using their main competitor? Think about that. There's a Starbucks across the street from your cafe. If you can advertise directly to people that use that Starbucks, that's a dream, and you'd pay a premium.

Or hey, Steve (male, 35, employed, based on his Facebook profile) was just hanging out in this Honda dealership. Ford, interested in advertising your latest offers to him?

So yes, this is great for business. I don't think it's that great for consumers. You might get more WiFi hotspots, which is a plus, but you're giving up your privacy to use them. Also, if you prefer not to use Facebook, you might lose access to WiFi at your favorite locations.

Re: Get Facebook WiFi for your business

#166

Post by carlob »

herge wrote: post #116
carlob wrote: post #109

Real conversation happened to me in an ice cream shop with a home-brewed facebook captive portal in Cambridge, MA. me: Excuse me, is there a way to log into the wifi if you don't have a facebook account? clerk: No, we've had a lots people doing illegal stuff on our wifi, so we need to verify their identity. me: I understand, however I don't have a facebook account. Would you like to verify my identity with a photo id…

I'm sure your point utterly convinced the clerk being paid minimum wage at your ice cream shop of the errors of his employer. Would you have accepted it if the clerk explained to you that requiring a Facebook account is the most hassle-free way that ice cream shop has found, considering a) their technical expertise, b) the amount of time and money they need to invest and c) their average customer?

Well, said ice cream shop had a fully open wifi before going through the hassle of creating the captive portal by themselves two years ago.

The thing that really irks me is the assumption that nowadays everyone has facebook. Isn't it surprising that in a country that finds national IDs liberticide the problem of identifying people is being outsourced to a corporate monopoly?

Re: Get Facebook WiFi for your business

#167

Post by mynewwork »

jamesaguilar wrote: post #130
tdumitrescu wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

'Draconian' does not mean 'excessive'. It means stringent, severe, brutally strict.

https://www.google.com/search?q=draconian Has the word "excessive" in the definition. I think it's at a minimum connoted in most applications of the word. Anyway, it doesn't matter how it's defined, I was only trying to understand whether the OP meant "excessive" or just "something I don't like."

I choose the word draconian because I thought it was the best word to describe the idea I was trying to convey. If I had to rephrase, I suppose that all of 'strict', 'harsh' and 'excessive' would be fair words to use in describing it.

As to your original comment, it can be both draconian and effective. The requirement could be that in addition to your facebook account, you also must upload a photo of yourself, holding government-issued ID, standing in front of the store, etc etc. That would make it even harder to use the wifi anonymously (abuse their system), but would clearly be a draconian measure.

Re: Get Facebook WiFi for your business

#168

Post by matznerd »

User8712 wrote: post #157
rattray wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not make a fake Facebook account? I imagine it could be useful in a number of other similar situations. (This is a serious question - I imagine there are real reasons why not, I just can't think of any myself apart from inconvenience/general principle).

Can you even create fake Facebook accounts these days? I have a real one that I never verified years ago, and Facebook would always ask for verification, but allow the account to still be used. However, I tried to create a fake one, and within hours, Facebook locked the account, and claimed it needed to be verified with a phone number to continue. I tried it a few times, from different IPs, and they required a phone…

Google this: buy Facebook pva

Re: Get Facebook WiFi for your business

#169

Post by mgkimsal »

code_duck wrote: post #142
herge wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure your point utterly convinced the clerk being paid minimum wage at your ice cream shop of the errors of his employer. Would you have accepted it if the clerk explained to you that requiring a Facebook account is the most hassle-free way that ice cream shop has found, considering a) their technical expertise, b) the amount of time and money they need to invest and c) their average customer?

I think the point of the story is to illustrate that a Facebook account is not a useful way to validate a customer's identity.

I think the point is it's useful enough for many situations.

Re: Get Facebook WiFi for your business

#170

Post by pbhjpbhj »

mononcqc wrote: post #147
joeblau wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The clerk must not be familiar with Facebook's "Real Name" policy. I think that asking a store clerk is probably never going to get you anywhere though. They are the least likely people to be involved with technical decisions. That's something that would be better taken up with the business owner. What's sad is that the business owner would probably be willing to sacrifice your business for the perceived benefit that…

The irony is rather that the excuse they provide is that they want to verify people's identity to prevent abuse, but then openly recommend using a fake identity to log on.

The shop management request a FB identifier as this reduces abuse of their wifi. If that didn't work they probably wouldn't use it - it's basically a way to require work of those who want to log on anonymously, probably enough work that it's easier to just go elsewhere.

The shop staff suggested using a faked ID - but they didn't suggest that this should still be the persons only ID for Facebook. That was their solution as an individual.

They're not even particularly contrary as practical solutions go - the first policy is presented to the public, it works to reduce wifi abuse. The second "policy" is not presented and works to try and avoid confrontations.

Post reply on HN