Facebook • Hacker News Board

Re: Facebook

#61

Post by alixr » Thu, Feb 20, 2014, 3:31 AM UTC

dpiers wrote: post #48

tomphoolery wrote: post #26

Ah yes, this reminds me of that old joke... > Why did Facebook buy WhatsApp? Because Snapchat isn't for sale.

Or because the daily messaging volume through Facebook-owned services now surpasses global SMS volume.

Was WhatsApp really that successful? I can't imagine it caught on with many young adults or older who have no trouble paying for SMS given the convenience. Is their demographic comprised of kids?

Re: Facebook

#62

Post by soup10 » Thu, Feb 20, 2014, 3:39 AM UTC

debt wrote: post #28

GuiA wrote: post #4

I ask, cause I'm not sure- do anybody make real companies anymore?

The numbers are staggering: 450 million users in less than three years. That's a real company. That's more users than most startups will ever see in a lifetime of use let alone daily usage.

Yea, whatsapp has a nosebleed valuation because of it's user base size and lock in effect(zuck hopes at-least, vulnerable to changes in ios and android default messenger), but i'd say its definitely real. I respect them a lot more than say groupon, because they are actually a reasonable size(just 32 engineers) for the complexity of their tech, and they provide a really useful service. Compared to say groupon which hires thousands of salespeople and provides a marginally useful service. Their success has and will continue to drive down sms price gouging, and I think that's a good thing.

Re: Facebook

#63

Post by skj » Thu, Feb 20, 2014, 3:39 AM UTC

jackbravo wrote: post #55

jmduke wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's your definition of a real company which excludes WhatsApp?

One that generates revenue?

They charge $1/year/user, though the first year is free.

One year ago they had 200m users. That number has not shrunk.

Re: Facebook

#64

Post by toomuchtodo » Thu, Feb 20, 2014, 3:51 AM UTC

ruswick wrote: post #54

d99kris wrote: post #23

Relevant article Why Selling WhatsApp To Facebook Would Be The Biggest Mistake Of Jan Koum's And Brian Acton's Lives (2012): http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericjackson/2012/12/03/why-selli...

Selling anything for billions of dollars has never been and never will be a mistake for anyone.

Unless money wasn't driving your exit. WhatsApp isn't Tesla or Spacex though.

Re: Facebook

#65

Post by toomuchtodo » Thu, Feb 20, 2014, 3:52 AM UTC

habosa wrote: post #36

The fact about WhatsApp that blew me away is that they have 72% DAILY active users. I can't think of any other service with that kind of engagement. Even Facebook must be impressed at how often people come back to WhatsApp.

Think how many active daily users the global phone network has. And how many of those calls don't have ads injected into them.

Re: Facebook

#66

Post by sebastianavina » Thu, Feb 20, 2014, 4:16 AM UTC

GuiA wrote: post #4

I ask, cause I'm not sure- do anybody make real companies anymore?

I own a metal working company and car parts stores. I jumped from software developing to metal fabrications, I can assure you that being able to administer everything from my own erp at almost no cost is the key of my success.

Re: Facebook

#67

Post by arrrg » Thu, Feb 20, 2014, 4:22 AM UTC

habosa wrote: post #36

The fact about WhatsApp that blew me away is that they have 72% DAILY active users. I can't think of any other service with that kind of engagement. Even Facebook must be impressed at how often people come back to WhatsApp.

People use it as a cross-plattform SMS replacement where I live, so that number isn’t that surprising to me.

Re: Facebook

#68

Post by heifetz » Thu, Feb 20, 2014, 5:27 AM UTC

19bn, 16bn of which is inflated Facebook stock. Zuckerberg knows what he is doing, he's playing the AOL tactic, better use that stock to make some acquisitions before it tanks.

Re: Facebook

#69

Post by gagaga » Thu, Feb 20, 2014, 5:59 AM UTC

rahij wrote: post #34

k-mcgrady wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> "a team of 32 engineers (~ $500 million/engineer)" Only if you consider the other employees worth/value to be $0.

An article mentions that Whatsapp spent $0 on user acquisition and marketing. If that's true, then yes, it's around $500 million/engineer.

Good luck creating an app used by so many without having a stellar support team.

Re: Facebook

#70

Post by acmecorps » Thu, Feb 20, 2014, 6:06 AM UTC

alixr wrote: post #61

dpiers wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or because the daily messaging volume through Facebook-owned services now surpasses global SMS volume.

Was WhatsApp really that successful? I can't imagine it caught on with many young adults or older who have no trouble paying for SMS given the convenience. Is their demographic comprised of kids?

Not in US, but it's absolutely big in Asia.

http://gigaom.com/2013/11/26/study-facebook-messenger-still-...