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Meta Accounts: A New Login for VR

oculus.com

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Re: Meta Accounts: A New Login for VR

#131

Post by dieselgate »

jdminhbg wrote: post #115
CharlesW wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm of the opinion that the data they could slurp up from mining your VR usage is of limited use, because it won't meaningfully improve ad targeting. Facebook is going to get lots more data than they get from you on desktop and mobile. “…one of the things I’m really excited about for future versions is getting eye tracking and face tracking in.” — Mark Zuckerberg https://uploadvr.com/zuckerberg-eye-face-tracking-qu…

This quote seems to be about using face/eye tracking to improve the VR itself, not something about ads or data mining.

I can reply to this comment now but will repost the previous reply:

Not sure why I can’t reply to the sibling comment here but I still cannot trust Meta/MZ for anything - even if the stated goal of eye tracking is to “improve the platform” “They trust me - dumb fucks” Mark Zuckerberg

Re: Meta Accounts: A New Login for VR

#132

Post by lacker »

superkuh wrote: post #7

This is a bait and switch. There's no reason to believe that Facebook will remain benevolent in the future. They will switch back to requiring some thing they can use to collect and sell your personal data even if it's not called Facebook. That was the point of them buying Oculus. They never tried to make money on the hardware.

It's a bit pedantic, but Facebook does not sell your personal data. They use it to target advertising. And at this point, every large tech company does the same thing. Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft. They all make significant revenue from advertising and they all use data they collect from you to target ads.

So, not that targeted advertising is so great, but it's looking like pretty much any hardware device from big tech companies in the future is going to work this way. I don't think Facebook is any different from the others any more.

Re: Meta Accounts: A New Login for VR

#134

Post by pegasus »

cableshaft wrote: post #113
lolinder wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The post was posted by a (edit: recently ex-) VP at Facebook, and the posted title, while strictly accurate, doesn't mention that there's a brand new account type that you need to have. I read this at first as "I can finally buy a VR headset and use it as regular hardware", not "FB is still going to track my usage, just under their new name". "Introducing Meta Accounts: A New Login for VR" is the actual title, and sh…

There's user accounts for almost every software business out there that has any form of online component. You have a user account on this very site. I don't get the complaint.

The oculus is clearly a hardware, not a software product, so GP's point stands.

Re: Meta Accounts: A New Login for VR

#135

Post by dntrkv »

andrewallbright wrote: post #49

It is an interesting growth play that Meta is doing (putting aside our feelings about it). By putting out relatively cheap VR headsets and requiring a meta (Facebook) account to use it, they are getting young people signed up for meta. Those young people might not have signed up for Facebook/Meta otherwise. It's a sneaky way to reduce friction and maybe convert young people onto the social media platform. It also rem…

I think you're reading way too much into this.

Meta has a VR platform and needs some form of auth. Reusing their existing auth was the lowest friction approach both in development and user experience.

I doubt they care very much about recruiting into their platform through VR. Their main business goal with VR is to own the app marketplace through Oculus Store. So far, they are far ahead of anyone else in the space.

Re: Meta Accounts: A New Login for VR

#137

Post by somehnacct3757 »

impulser_ wrote: post #106
somehnacct3757 wrote: post #87

The problem isn't that you need a Facebook account, it's that Meta owns Oculus at all. Call the account whatever you want; if I'm a record in any of Meta's databases then I expect to be linked to a shadow profile and surveilled for their profit. The only control I have over the situation is to never agree to any ToS relationship with Meta. There's literally nothing they can do to change this short of selling Oculus t…

"they killed the platform for privacy-conscious webizen" They are okay with this, because that a VERY small portion of the population. Most people couldn't care less about what a company does with their data as long as they provide a good product.

We have over a year of data now from Apple's app tracking transparency feature. Only 25% of users have opted in and the trend line is not promising. I think the HN crowd is way ahead of the curve on this topic, but still a good indicator of global sentiment.

Re: Meta Accounts: A New Login for VR

#138

Post by dewey »

izzydata wrote: post #80
fardo wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook maintains “shadow profile” accounts for people who have not personally made an account [1], the answer to your question is “whatever information your friends and family exposed on your behalf and which is linkable to you”. [1] https://medium.com/@SpiderOak/facebook-shadow-profiles-a-pro...

so you think they are confident enough to link somebodies randomly created alias, let's say "InteretDude420" to a real name? What if opened a VR Arcade and owned 100 Oculus Quests and made 100 separate accounts?

> let's say "InteretDude420" to a real name

For many targeted / personalized ads purposes you don't really care about the real name. You mostly care about linking hardware / software identifiers (IDFA etc.) to some kind of profile that you attached information to (Likes technology, fashion, classical music,...).

If you make 100 separate accounts and open a VR arcade you are probably just filtered out as an anomaly. It's not about having a 100% coverage, it's about having good enough coverage of most users. Just like filter out bot or ad blocker users as there's still enough regular people.

Re: Meta Accounts: A New Login for VR

#139

Post by scrose »

jdminhbg wrote: post #115
CharlesW wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm of the opinion that the data they could slurp up from mining your VR usage is of limited use, because it won't meaningfully improve ad targeting. Facebook is going to get lots more data than they get from you on desktop and mobile. “…one of the things I’m really excited about for future versions is getting eye tracking and face tracking in.” — Mark Zuckerberg https://uploadvr.com/zuckerberg-eye-face-tracking-qu…

This quote seems to be about using face/eye tracking to improve the VR itself, not something about ads or data mining.

Having worked very briefly at a company that survived on ad-sales, I can assure you that face/eye tracking will definitely be used as a way to sell more or charge more for ads on the platform. At the very least it will be a way for a marketing team to go back to their bosses about how sticky their ad was. Ie ‘People looked at our ad for an average of 10 seconds!’

Re: Meta Accounts: A New Login for VR

#140

Post by janoc »

neodymiumphish wrote: post #28
superkuh wrote: post #7

This is a bait and switch. There's no reason to believe that Facebook will remain benevolent in the future. They will switch back to requiring some thing they can use to collect and sell your personal data even if it's not called Facebook. That was the point of them buying Oculus. They never tried to make money on the hardware.

I'm positive they will still correlate activity from your Meta account with your FB. One possible point of this is to keep Meta users with access to their purchased content while Facebook maintains their ability to block/restrict user access on the platform.

I think the reason is more prosaic. Oculus Quest is a complete nonstarter in business for many companies because Facebook-anything is simply a no-go.

And they need to penetrate into this market because that's where the money is, not in subsidized headset retail.

Now whether someone will buy this "no need for Facebook anymore but not really" shtick is another story.

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