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Why the Instagram founders really quit

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101–110 of 112 posts

Re: Why the Instagram founders really quit

#101
post #48

"Zuckerberg was intent on making him miserable enough that he would quit" - I thought only the lowliest managers keep doing this bullshit and in bigger companies they are more grown up and they have a spine. Politics are the ugliest of all the crap that one has to take in the IT world. And no-one can avoid it. You can be in the lowest position they will still drag you into. I feel bad for Systrom. I really do.

No sorry, the bigger company the more nasty they get. I used to work for Oracle and IBM and it blew my mind how grownups with children would play childish games and jump at each other throats at every occasion. I also work for less known company with revenue of $100MM and was the same stuff. My manager used to tell me: If you have family [to go home to after being at the office for 12 hours] don't work here.

> the bigger company the more nasty they get.

Yes. This is why I strongly prefer working for small companies. They tend to offer much more interesting work with a much better working environment.

Re: Why the Instagram founders really quit

#102
post #26

I predict that Zuckerburg, when he's old and seeking new prestige, will abandon his (dirty) capitalistic activities and take on the philanthropist persona that many other tech giants (who we often forget the dirty methods they used to reach their heights) have. The EU, with its often absurd laws (re: link tax, cookie rules) may be the only threat to the juggernaut that Facebook is (and by extension, the power that a…

Back when his reputation wasn’t so low: https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.businessinsider.com/mark-zu...

Non-amp link: https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-zuckerberg-giving-away-...

Re: Why the Instagram founders really quit

#103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't have a citation here but I think facebook tried to create a slow vesting schedule for these aquihires so they would have golden shackles

Is this just your assumption? The WhatsApp acquisition was pretty famously on a 4 year vest [0], not sure why IG would have been different. [0] https://www.businessinsider.com/whatsapp-founder-jan-koum-re...

mmm I was pretty sure I read it. I cannot find the reference so I think you are right. I'm going to edit my comment.

Re: Why the Instagram founders really quit

#104
post #98
post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you seriously believe the generic PR-speak of "to give people the power to build a global community that works for all of us."?!

No.. I think they should double down on strategies to curb fake news and misleading ads and adopt some rules similar to the Fairness doctrine.

And what kind of strategies would those be? Never mind that I woud not trust anyone in SV to decide what is and is not "fake news". OK, not only in SV, but letting Facebook "curb faker news" and create an impression that the content there in any way decent sounds even worse than the status quo where you at least know that FB is a cesspit of depravity.

Re: Why the Instagram founders really quit

#105
post #27

Instagram remains enormously popular because it's not exclusively 1:1 mutual relationships, has a minimal interface/feature set, and most importantly isn't easily susceptible to outrage and anger gawking like twitter/FB are. They can keep adding hamburgers and FB thirst traps but as long as they don't mess with central idea (big photos only with captions) they won't cede share any time soon.

Well, there's also Instagram Stories, which is Snapchat with better UX and not resorting to stupid technical workarounds like doing screenshots of camera apps

since at least 2018 snapchat hasn't used the "screenshot the viewfinder" thing on most/all devices afaik

Re: Why the Instagram founders really quit

#106
post #104
post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No.. I think they should double down on strategies to curb fake news and misleading ads and adopt some rules similar to the Fairness doctrine.

And what kind of strategies would those be? Never mind that I woud not trust anyone in SV to decide what is and is not "fake news". OK, not only in SV, but letting Facebook "curb faker news" and create an impression that the content there in any way decent sounds even worse than the status quo where you at least know that FB is a cesspit of depravity.

“present controversial issues of public importance and to do so in a manner that was—in the FCC's view—honest, equitable, and balanced.”.

Re: Why the Instagram founders really quit

#107
post #89
post #27

Instagram remains enormously popular because it's not exclusively 1:1 mutual relationships, has a minimal interface/feature set, and most importantly isn't easily susceptible to outrage and anger gawking like twitter/FB are. They can keep adding hamburgers and FB thirst traps but as long as they don't mess with central idea (big photos only with captions) they won't cede share any time soon.

I use Instagram much less than I used to because of mainly three things: 1) The feed is no longer reverse-chronological. 2) I see way too many ads in my feed. 3) Feed clutter: I don't want to see suggested hashtags or follows in the feed. I don't need the feed to randomly remind me about a few people's Stories. I just want the photo posts, and nothing else. I expect all of those things were driven by the FB side of t…

You can't put links in natural Instagram posts which probably drives many to advertisements. It'd benice to show a link to just your followers who are interested in an upcoming event but currently you are allowed a single link in your profile and nowhere else. So you need to say something like "Go to my profile, follow the link to my linktree page, and click on 'Easter promotion'". So everyone is left running ads which clutters our feeds.

Re: Why the Instagram founders really quit

#108
post #90
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The big question is... What can replace fb groups. For any non-tech topic they seem to be the goto replacement for good old discussion boards.

Reddit of works as a good alternative. However, the steep-ish learning curve of it seems to keep the average person away (for the better?) FB now only serves the following uses for me: 1. Finding housing in a new city (FB groups are still king here) 2. Checking friends Birthdays, and to get in touch with them when I don't have their contact info 3. Checking events happening in my area / generating interest for an eve…

Have you used Marketplace? I was wary but had a better experience than the previous de facto local option Gumtree. I suppose having a real name and face for accountability works on some people.

Re: Why the Instagram founders really quit

#109
post #107
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use Instagram much less than I used to because of mainly three things: 1) The feed is no longer reverse-chronological. 2) I see way too many ads in my feed. 3) Feed clutter: I don't want to see suggested hashtags or follows in the feed. I don't need the feed to randomly remind me about a few people's Stories. I just want the photo posts, and nothing else. I expect all of those things were driven by the FB side of t…

You can't put links in natural Instagram posts which probably drives many to advertisements. It'd benice to show a link to just your followers who are interested in an upcoming event but currently you are allowed a single link in your profile and nowhere else. So you need to say something like "Go to my profile, follow the link to my linktree page, and click on 'Easter promotion'". So everyone is left running ads whi…

There are a lot of ads in your feed because that's the number Instagram has decided. Companies buy ads because it's an effective platform for advertising. I don't think links would stop any of this but it would contribute to a much noisier feed.

Re: Why the Instagram founders really quit

#110
post #108
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reddit of works as a good alternative. However, the steep-ish learning curve of it seems to keep the average person away (for the better?) FB now only serves the following uses for me: 1. Finding housing in a new city (FB groups are still king here) 2. Checking friends Birthdays, and to get in touch with them when I don't have their contact info 3. Checking events happening in my area / generating interest for an eve…

Have you used Marketplace? I was wary but had a better experience than the previous de facto local option Gumtree. I suppose having a real name and face for accountability works on some people.

No. I use craigslist.

For rentals I use the cityname-housing groups that have 50k or so users each.

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