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The problem, really, is this thing called “disruption”

wired.com

11–20 of 41 posts

Re: The problem, really, is this thing called “disruption”

#11

Please don't put all companies in the same basket. There's a big difference between Instagram and Google.

Facebook and Google make most of their money from ads. That's a big similarity. I'd even say that they are each others biggest competitor.

Re: The problem, really, is this thing called “disruption”

#15

Also, "changing the world". Sorry, your messaging app isn't doing that.

Well, in the most trivial and banal sense possible, it is: there's now another message app that wasn't there before.

I tried to unpack why this phrase is overused. I think it is because it's one of a few things that both sounds lofty when used in a pitch, and wiil always be true.

It's also a great dodge of considering the type of change (changing the world for the better or worse?) or of that change's magnitude (substantially changing the world, or just a little?). To some of a crowd, having heard the above, they will assume things about "changing the world" that may make further probing on those points at a high level sound like duplicate questions, and thus surpresses the chance of getting them. Useful for someone trying to peddle crap.

Re: The problem, really, is this thing called “disruption”

#16
> Ex Googler says founders need to stop using the word disruption

i'm a bit unclear on the relevance of 'ex googler'. apparently the author of the wired article was once employed by google, but that doesn't seem germane to the piece.

edit: looks like the title was updated.

Re: The problem, really, is this thing called “disruption”

#17

Also, "changing the world". Sorry, your messaging app isn't doing that.

If WhatsApp didn't change the world, what did?

it's neither the first nor the last chat app, i believe - so how would you say the world changed?

(note that i don't use whatsapp and am not all that familiar with it. mostly i'm aware of it due to an interest in erlang.)

Re: The problem, really, is this thing called “disruption”

#18
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If WhatsApp didn't change the world, what did?

it's neither the first nor the last chat app, i believe - so how would you say the world changed? (note that i don't use whatsapp and am not all that familiar with it. mostly i'm aware of it due to an interest in erlang.)

Previously there wasn't a WhatsApp app, and now there is! World changed. :)

Re: The problem, really, is this thing called “disruption”

#19
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If WhatsApp didn't change the world, what did?

it's neither the first nor the last chat app, i believe - so how would you say the world changed? (note that i don't use whatsapp and am not all that familiar with it. mostly i'm aware of it due to an interest in erlang.)

Over 1 Billion users.

According to wiki: According to the Financial Times, WhatsApp "has done to SMS on mobile phones what Skype did to international calling on landlines."[167]

Seems pretty world changing in terms of providing a core communication service to 1/7 of the human population

Re: The problem, really, is this thing called “disruption”

#20
This is just the normal lifecycle of the internet or just humans in general. We loved the word disruption a couple of years ago, and now there's a shift to hate it. We loved apps, now we hate them. We loved IoT now nobody talks about it. Deep/Machine learning is all the rage.
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