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Re: Meta

#151

Post by davesque »

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #90

This is an investor's view and the subtext seems to be "We're making a lot of money out of this, and I expect we'll make a lot more." The problem is that it's only an investor's view. It's quite dismissive of Facebook's very real political problems, and doesn't acknowledge that for many people - especially, but not exclusively younger users - Facebook is a terminal combination of boring, evil, and cringe. But more th…

> leaving FB to carry on as a kind of AOL for an ever-decreasing userbase until it's sold off for far too much money to some other large corporation which should know better.

Mapping FB onto AOL here feels like an effective way of summing things up. Although I'm trying to remember because it was a long time ago: did AOL make any grandiose product moves that ended up signalling its decline? I'm inclined to say no, but I could be completely wrong and forgetting something. What I recall was just a complete lack of innovation from AOL and a regression to money printing mode on the antiquated ISP with fancy user portal model.

Although perhaps you weren't trying to make a direct comparison between the two.

Re: Meta

#152

Post by xwdv »

soperj wrote: post #146
darknavi wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The only way FB could grow was by pushing content that got people riled up. Not sure if I've ever believe it was the only way for them to grow. I hate Facebook (product) for what it has become but it is an excellent tool for its original use, which is keeping in touch with friends/family/communities.

So is email.

Grossly underestimates how complicated email can really be.

Re: Meta

#153

Post by jensensbutton »

r00fus wrote: post #98
threeseed wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does Apple see in it ? They are investing heavily in AR/VR and they have a proven track record in new product categories e.g. smartphone, tablet, headphones, watch. Once the technologies improve such that the glasses/headsets are light and small enough then it's going to be something you can bring and use everywhere. And then the popularity will increase which in turn will attract developers. Repeat this cycle a…

Apple and Oculus/FB have very little overlap. Apple is pushing AR, and Oculus is VR. I don't think it makes sense to conflate those two distinct use cases as the tech is different and user experience is vastly different as well.

FB is pushing AR and VR as I understand it. The VR part is just what's already shipped. I think it'll be similar to iOS/Android because FB will beat Google to the punch.

Re: Meta

#154

Post by r00fus »

yepthatsreality wrote: post #84
r00fus wrote: post #19

FTA: > “Meta”, on the other hand, is explicit: CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that Facebook is now a metaverse company I'm not sure anyone (other than some geeks) really understands what the "metaverse" is... or cares. The name/symbolism/demo were uninspiring and vague at best. Not to mention Mark isn't the best salesman for this. It seems so egotistical of him to assume HE needed to be the front-man for this effort other…

The metaverse is gibberish for “chat apps”.

I bet if you ask 10 people what the metaverse was, you'd get 10 completely different answers. I'd say your answer is as good as any.

Re: Meta

#155

Post by slownews45 »

alexashka wrote: post #125

Am I the only one thinking Zuckerberg, like Bill Gates, was good at creating a monopoly, but had no taste or ability to do anything else? This move reminds me of Elon Musk's brain implant garbage that is sure to fail. It's like these people can't just do a good job of providing a simple thing people want/need, they want to believe they can do something big. They can't, and they won't, but they will waste billions of…

One big difference - a lot of these billionaires are willing to try out ideas and ignore folks who say they won't work.

If you try out a few ideas, some will pan out.

And brain implants are certainly coming. Parkinsons and other diseases are already being treated with them.

Re: Meta

#156

Post by mupuff1234 »

sharkjacobs wrote: post #139
TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #90

This is an investor's view and the subtext seems to be "We're making a lot of money out of this, and I expect we'll make a lot more." The problem is that it's only an investor's view. It's quite dismissive of Facebook's very real political problems, and doesn't acknowledge that for many people - especially, but not exclusively younger users - Facebook is a terminal combination of boring, evil, and cringe. But more th…

> MANGA This was a funny bit when i saw it on twitter yesterday, but if we're actually going to update our top 5 tech companies acronym let's do it comprehensively. Google has been Alphabet for a while, so MANGA should be MANAA. And I haven't understood why Netflix is in there for a while now, I think we should swap it for Microsoft. What do we think about MAMAA?

Alphabet's stock ticker is GOOG so I think 'G' still works.

Re: Meta

#157

Post by mhink »

hsnewman wrote: post #93

This is a very bad sign for facebook. They are betting on everyone walking around with 3D goggles talking in Zoom like meetings. I personally would rather go outside and see reality than virtually doing it. Only time will tell, but I'm betting on reality.

I'm not a fan of Facebook/Meta, but I'm also not sure about this take. Rewind the clock 30-40 years, and I feel like it'd be easy to say something like "This is a bad sign for IBM. They are betting on everyone sitting around staring at a monitor sending electronic messages instead of talking."

That's not to say that they'll actually deliver on this idea, but we've definitely seen the transformative power of tech on society. Whether that's a good thing or not is left as an exercise to the reader.

Re: Meta

#158

Post by thebean11 »

r00fus wrote: post #147
thebean11 wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Selling digital goods with fat margins, app store revenue, and ads in digital spaces

Great so moving from display & social ads in Facebook to ads in ... digital spaces. Can you name a "digital space" or is this still vapor?

Fortnite is probably the most obvious one, unless you’re talking about facebook specifically or VR specifically (VR chat is big but nowhere near Fortnite).

Re: Meta

#159

Post by orky56 »

nemothekid wrote: post #28

Personally, I'm less bullish on FB/Meta now. Half of me believes if someone can turn it around it would be Zuck, and the other half believes that FB's culture has optimized the wrong the thing for the past 5 years. Consider this, and call me out if I'm wrong, for the past 5 years we were led to believe by FB/YouTube that algorithmically generated could only have negative consequences as it moved people to more and mo…

I think part of it is demographics. Facebook's userbase is and continues to trend older especially for Facebook/WhatsApp and slightly for Instagram as well compared to TikTok/Snap. I'm not saying Facebook has abandoned the younger demo but wants to continue to cater to the earning and older demo. We're not going to live in Wall-E's world but when the older generation no longer wants to or can engage in IRL experiences that require being full mobile and healthy, AR and moreso VR will allow them to immerse themselves and "preserve" youth well longer than we thought possible. We are at an interesting time in history where wealth inequality is growing and the wealth transfer from rich to poor and more significantly from old to young may not happen as quickly as society needs it to. If the older demographic can and wants to hold on a decade or 2 longer compounded with healthcare advances giving them longer life expectancy and their existing investments/savings growing well, who knows what and when the future will look like?

Re: Meta

#160

Post by random314 »

soperj wrote: post #144
zamalek wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> betting against a company with such a huge war chest is like trying to catch a falling knife. Indeed. My biggest fear is that succeed. I happen to prefer PCs (and there is no reason to argue for or against that). Apple has been incredibly successful at capturing market share and their devices are now mandatory at my new job. I might not like it, but it's not the end of the world: Apple behaves ethically. Now imagin…

>Apple behaves ethically There was that whole no poaching thing.

And sharing imessages and imail with iCCP.
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