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Meta preps new social app

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Re: Meta preps new social app

#101

Post by RileyJames »

asim wrote: post #72
berkes wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook has such a network: WhatsApp. In the US apparently not that omnipresent, but it's everywhere in many countries. Facebook has the data, and knows exactly how such closed-networks are in demand, can (not) be monetized and what features are needed to make them grow. In e.g. The Netherlands anything from your neighborhood-watch to parents-info, or anything related to school, via business-groups, your bachelors p…

Yes, I use WhatsApp, my family uses WhatsApp, my wife's family uses WhatsApp. I found it to be an incredibly effective tool and was a really big fan of Jan Koum and Brian Acton pre-sale to Facebook. And now, I wonder how to replace it. Signal did not become a replacement, if anything it's not that great because user friendliness trumps everything else. Networks are sticky and shifting a network is a damn near impossi…

I’ve had success moving my family over to signal.

It took persistence.

What I’ve found to work is taking it one family member at a time. And do it in person, get them to commit to using it. Then ask if you can set it up for them, show them how it works. Join them into the group chat, and then at least you’ve removed the friction to joining.

Re: Meta preps new social app

#102

Post by AlexandrB »

> There are currently no set plan for monetization being shared, which could mean no ads to start? In which case, expect the emphasis to be on an organic social strategy.

I wonder if, collectively, people will ever stop falling for this kind of bait & switch.

Re: Meta preps new social app

#103

Post by lou1306 »

KoftaBob wrote: post #21

Their choice to make the app "compatible with Mastodon" (uses the ActivityPub protocol and is basically a huge Mastodon instance) reminds me of the famous Microsoft "Embrace, Extend, Extinguish" model. Not sure that Extinguish part is going to work though, considering AP/Mastodon are open source protocols/platforms and easily forkable.

> Not sure that Extinguish part is going to work though, considering AP/Mastodon are open source protocols/platforms and easily forkable.

That's not really a safeguard against "extinguishing". When you become the first mover, your extensions to the protocol/platform drive out competitors that cannot afford to interoperate with you.

Actually, it may be pretty easy for a Meta-owned AP instance to drive out a lot of competitors. It definitely won't have the space/compute/bandwidth constraints of the average instance, and can work around most protocol warts by just throwing money at them. At the same time, federating with it might have a huge cost for a small instance.

Re: Meta preps new social app

#104

Post by Kye »

silisili wrote: post #44
threeseed wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From Facebook's Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Results: DAUs were 2.00 billion on average for December 2022, an increase of 4% year-over-year. So I think public networks still seem far from dead.

You can't count DAU as an accurate measurement when you're subsidizing half the number with carrier deals. For hundreds of millions in other countries, FB is the internet because it's cheaper than...the internet.

It's also often the only place to find local information even if you do have affordable internet. Especially in smaller counties and towns. Someone might show up in the count, but it doesn't mean a strong attachment.

Re: Meta preps new social app

#105

Post by iakov »

lakomen wrote: post #94
asim wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I use WhatsApp, my family uses WhatsApp, my wife's family uses WhatsApp. I found it to be an incredibly effective tool and was a really big fan of Jan Koum and Brian Acton pre-sale to Facebook. And now, I wonder how to replace it. Signal did not become a replacement, if anything it's not that great because user friendliness trumps everything else. Networks are sticky and shifting a network is a damn near impossi…

Telegram seems like the logical choice. It has everything WhatsApp does and more.

Why is this downvoted? Telegram is IMO the best alternative to WhatsApp.

It has a much better UX than Signal, more desirable features, not to mention more users and channels. There is an on-demand E2E encryption for those who want it. Pavel Durov is not on a friendly terms with Russian govt now for those who care about it. You can pay for the service to support the company, get rid of ads and gain some meaningless features.

What's not to like?

Re: Meta preps new social app

#106

Post by v4dok »

dbspin wrote: post #82
v4dok wrote: post #55

I want to offer a counterpoint to the current consensus in the comments from (my) real-world interactions. In many countries outside of US, Twitter is occupied by a minority audience which is usually in its own bubble. Instagram is much more popular especially in Millenials who are now in the age group where they start to be more politically active and less motivated by the "pure entertainement" side of the social me…

Instagram isn't used by most people to 'drive insane engagement'. It's a relaxing place to share pictures and memes - and one that fortunately avoids most of the political insanity which makes other social networks exhausting and polarising. I don't want less 'limited' conversations on instagram. Its a place I look at and post pictures from my life, memories, moments with friends. Fuck engagement. Fuck the competitiv…

I guess that is why its a separate app. Its not turning instagram to twitter, but it offers an additional space.

Re: Meta preps new social app

#107

Post by jtode »

My first take was "They are also, along with Bluesky, attempting to grab the Twitter sceptre of power."

There is a tidbit in there about "compatibility" with other networks, including Mastodon; I wonder if their implementation of the protocol will include Mastodon reaching into their garden. If it does, I might believe they have learned something.

Re: Meta preps new social app

#108

Post by [deleted] »

schmorptron wrote: post #56

Tumblr said they'd work towards ActivityPub a couple of months back as well, I wonder if that work will ship at some point soon. As much as you have to be skeptical with anything to to with facebook, I still remain cautiously optimistic about this. Although the kind of content you can follow on tumblr is infinitely more fun than on instagram imo :)

[deleted]

Re: Meta preps new social app

#109

Post by heresie-dabord »

yosito wrote: post #100

The thing I don't like about mainstream social networks is that they control not just what you say and what you see, but also how you say it and how you see it. Meta says we're all gonna share our thoughts and opinions via short texts posts on Instagram now, so that's what *we're gonna do. Don't like it? Well, too bad, because that's how the app works now. Oh, and by the way, you can post whatever you want, unless th…

> you can post whatever you want, unless the algorithms decide it's against the community standards

To the extent that social media is like a village (a medium-to-large number of people expressing themselves), there have always been community standards in any society.

> mainstream social networks

People who sufficiently resent aspects of broader society can find smaller groups. These smaller groups will themselves have community standards.

The expectation of unfettered freedom of speech is at best naive, especially when the things people say incite violence.

Re: Meta preps new social app

#110

Post by Kye »

wyclif wrote: post #35
implements wrote: post #14

Isn’t this exactly what you’d expect to happen given Twitter has become a raging dumpster fire and Meta has enough networking effect to get a Twitter clone off the ground? File under: “Obvious things to do when you think about it”, really.

Twitter is "a raging dumpster fire" only for Space Man Bad people motivated by politics. For the rest of us, it's actually better than it's ever been, especially if you're like me and living outside of North America. It's snappier and more open than Twitter 1.0, and it's not banning people at the behest of the FBI.

Space Man: good

Car Man: so-so

Twitter Man: bad

But Twitter was already a pit before he bought it. He fired all the people who held the line on its ongoing degradation, so it's getting worse.

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