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How web platforms collapse: The Facebook case study
11–20 of 39 posts
Re: How web platforms collapse: The Facebook case study
#12this guy might want to include data about facebook user number, dau / mau, instead of stock numbers. facebook itself, not even counting insta or whatsapp, continues to grow. it is hard to claim a "collapse" if the user base is growing
Meta’s userbase is growing in regions which do not currently monetize well. Notably Asia-Pacific and “Rest of World” which monetize at 1/12th to 1/16th of a US/CA user.
The growth rate in US/CA is basically flat while those regions are 3-5% YoY.
Re: How web platforms collapse: The Facebook case study
#13Getting pretty tired of all these poorly written "death" and "collapse" stories that are little more than random guesses. In this case in particular because the author lacks the insight most of us had a decade ago already:
"How can they possibly make so many decisions that run counter to customer preferences? There’s only one reason why they do this. They do it because they’re so dominant."
You're NOT the customer. Advertisers are. They do not make user-hostile decision out of arrogance, indifference or incompetence, they do it to make money. Preferable every quarter more.
Other than this, the lengthy article doesn't contain a single tangible point as to why Facebook would collapse.
Re: How web platforms collapse: The Facebook case study
#14Getting pretty tired of all these poorly written "death" and "collapse" stories that are little more than random guesses. In this case in particular because the author lacks the insight most of us had a decade ago already: "How can they possibly make so many decisions that run counter to customer preferences? There’s only one reason why they do this. They do it because they’re so dominant." You're NOT the customer. A…
From the article:
> The main reason why they don’t care about serving users is because the user is not the customer at Facebook. The users (you and me) are the product sold to the actual customers.
Re: How web platforms collapse: The Facebook case study
#15I hate substack!
Re: How web platforms collapse: The Facebook case study
#16A company’s stock price is often disconnected with its economic output relative to other opportunities in the market. This happens more often than a major web platform failing, so I conclude the possibility is greater it’s the former.
Re: How web platforms collapse: The Facebook case study
#17Getting pretty tired of all these poorly written "death" and "collapse" stories that are little more than random guesses. In this case in particular because the author lacks the insight most of us had a decade ago already: "How can they possibly make so many decisions that run counter to customer preferences? There’s only one reason why they do this. They do it because they’re so dominant." You're NOT the customer. A…
> You're NOT the customer. Advertisers are. They do not make user-hostile decision out of arrogance, indifference or incompetence, they do it to make money.
This is obviously inadequate. Users are the product that are being sold to advertisers, therefore decisions that shed users affect the bottom line. Why would an outlet not fear shedding users even while taking user-hostile decisions?
I'm not offering an answer. But because they’re so dominant is a better answer than ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ for me.
Re: How web platforms collapse: The Facebook case study
#18I believe the analysis and the lesson learned are completely wrong. The real reason for Facebook's decline is that Apple knee-capped their advertising. The lesson in this is: don't let another company be able to get between you and your customers. Google took this lesson to heart some years back, hence the massive investment in Chrome browser and Android so that no company could come between Google and its users.
The critical investments Google made was paying Apple for search traffic and building their own smartphone-centric hardware ecosystem (pixel, home, tv etc). Android is too indirect. Regulation and OEMs like Samsung can prevent Google from getting the capture over users at the prices they want. Chrome is meaningless outside of ChromeOS / Chromebook.
Re: How web platforms collapse: The Facebook case study
#19My wife's grandfather, Theodore Houser, was the CEO of Sears in the `50s. He wrote a book called "Big Business and Human Values". The last CEO had nothing close to "Human Values", and Sears didn't last long after they started ignoring his advice.
Elon Musk would do well to read that book.
Re: How web platforms collapse: The Facebook case study
#20This article operates on the premise that companies can keep their users around indefinitely, if only they treat them with respect. I am not sure that's true in the case of social media companies (and probably other types of companies, too). I think there's an element of fashion to it. Companies go out of fashion. If you're in Gen Z, it's more fashionable right now to use Tiktok than it is to use Instagram. It's stil…
I'd say that's certainly part of it. Even just escaping the hordes to stand out in a new place/way would be important to people. Think about how strongly teenagers define themselves with clothing and music to carve out a niche.
Beyond that, I think social networks are heavily reliant on active creators. If those people feel like minnows amongst the masses and grandmas, they're more likely to strike out in new territory whether it's a fresh network or mode of creating. Become a bigger fish in a smaller pond. Which leaves behind less-active users or people who've found reward/profit on the previous platform, making that platform start to feel more like TV than a mingling, social space.