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Sheryl Sandberg stepping down as Facebook COO

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Re: Sheryl Sandberg stepping down as Facebook COO

#171

Post by crispyambulance »

oldstrangers wrote: post #58
frisco wrote: post #25

I increasingly believe that Facebook’s pivot to Meta will end up going down as one of the biggest misses in the history of business. The metaverse is a real idea yes - but strapping a phone to your face and walking through your coffee table isn’t it. Especially not with a mediocre centralized FB owned “virtual world” where they inflict heavy taxes and content moderation. Facebook has neglected its core businesses for…

Facebook was always doomed for failure, just like every social platform that came before it. The pivot should've happened years ago with a focus on Instagram and content creation (their shot at streaming was at least in the right direction). At this point, Facebook has simply waited entirely too long, and the likelihood of any pivot working for a company of their size is basically nonexistent.

> ... was always doomed for failure

You could also say that "they won" and there's no where to go but down now.

Nothing can grow forever and things that try are known, in the biological domain, as cancers or infestations. There's quite a few corporations that "won" their market, so they're primed for a decline-- if you can still even call it that after enough people made more money than god and retired.

Re: Sheryl Sandberg stepping down as Facebook COO

#172

Post by dylan604 »

ralph84 wrote: post #34
atourgates wrote: post #21

"Sitting by Mark’s side for these 14 years has been the honor and privilege of a lifetime. [...] In the critical moments of my life, in the highest highs and in the depths of true lows, I have never had to turn to Mark, because he was already there." If this is an accurate reflection of her experience, I don't expect it's a side of Mark Zuckerberg most of us imagine exists.

Or it's a nice way of saying he's a micromanager.

kind of reads like a stepford wife waking up

Re: Sheryl Sandberg stepping down as Facebook COO

#173

Post by boshalfoshal »

dave5104 wrote: post #136
boshalfoshal wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do people always bring this up when people talk about "Facebook"? Whenever I see people use "Facebook" used to describe the company, I think of all the products they offer, not just facebook.com. With that being said, anecdotally, in younger (American) circles, facebook.com isn't used much as a social media/content sharing platform. However, other facebook (meta) products like messenger, and instagram are still u…

> Why do people always bring this up when people talk about "Facebook"? Wasn't one of the points of their recent rebrand to Meta to better define "Facebook" as a singular product, and not the company and its other products?

Correct, but in this particular context, the top level comment used "Facebook" to refer to the collection of products under the "Facebook" (meta) umbrella. So saying "No young people use Facebook" implies that no one uses instagram, whatsapp, etc. in this context :P

I see this a lot in other threads pertaining to Meta/FB but its all semantics at the end of the day. And even if they are referring to "Facebook" the singular product being irrelevant, its not really informative since at the end of the day Facebook is a B2B company that sells data and serves targeted ads. It doesn't matter if they get that information to you through oculus, facebook.com, instagram, or whatsapp, and as of now, their "core" products (fb.com, instagram, whatsapp, messenger, oculus) still cover a huge market of people they can glean data from.

Re: Sheryl Sandberg stepping down as Facebook COO

#174

Post by infamouscow »

tempsy wrote: post #73
frisco wrote: post #25

I increasingly believe that Facebook’s pivot to Meta will end up going down as one of the biggest misses in the history of business. The metaverse is a real idea yes - but strapping a phone to your face and walking through your coffee table isn’t it. Especially not with a mediocre centralized FB owned “virtual world” where they inflict heavy taxes and content moderation. Facebook has neglected its core businesses for…

Agreed that FB hasn’t actually proven they can build something from scratch that reaches critical mass. They would’ve have been long doomed had they not bought Instagram. Every other popular app eg Oculus and Whatsapp was also acquired.

Zuckerberg created a culture of copying rather than innovating, driving out all of the talented employees. The long-term consequences of that leave you with a banal organization incapable of shifting with the market.

Re: Sheryl Sandberg stepping down as Facebook COO

#175

Post by radicaldreamer »

shakes_mcjunkie wrote: post #158
haunter wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>What people want is an escape from reality. I still don't understand what's the difference between MMOs and Metaverse. Like it's on mobile? That's all? Peak WoW _was_ a social network something Zuck is dreaming about (and that's while you also have to pay a monthly sub). I've read around and some people say that the difference people can _create content_ in Metaverse but... sandbox MMOs are also a thing for a long t…

WoW but more boring and with more microtransactions.

Final Fantasy XIV is at least fun

Re: Sheryl Sandberg stepping down as Facebook COO

#176

Post by coastflow »

iLoveOncall wrote: post #23
minimaxir wrote: post #7

It's possible this announcement was intentionally timed against the media-consuming Depp/Heard trial verdict announcement in an attempt to bury the news. Meta stock went down a few points immediately after the announcement.

Yeah, because people that invest heavily in the stock market are the same people that read about celebrities in Closer.

The Washington Post is covering the trial heavily, as the defamation suit resulted as a response to an opinion-editorial that Heard wrote in The Washington Post (the trial is in Virginia because that is where the servers and printers of the WaPost are located).

Re: Sheryl Sandberg stepping down as Facebook COO

#177

Post by georgeecollins »

frisco wrote: post #25

I increasingly believe that Facebook’s pivot to Meta will end up going down as one of the biggest misses in the history of business. The metaverse is a real idea yes - but strapping a phone to your face and walking through your coffee table isn’t it. Especially not with a mediocre centralized FB owned “virtual world” where they inflict heavy taxes and content moderation. Facebook has neglected its core businesses for…

It's the thirty year anniversary of the Newton, a complete failure as a product. When it failed people said that people would never carry around computers, there was no need. They were bulky, a huge hassle and didn't do anything better than paper. All of this was true. Yet I don't think it is a coincidence that the iPhone came from the same company.

I don't like Facebook as a product. But I like that Meta is trying to make something work that isn't possible today, but may be possible in the future. It may not work out for them and their vision may never happen. But when someone makes fun of "strapping a phone to your face" I hear "get a horse". It doesn't take brains or vision to see the limitations of present technology.

Re: Sheryl Sandberg stepping down as Facebook COO

#178

Post by jmvoodoo »

blowski wrote: post #145
echelon wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You need to check out "Metaverse Twitter". You're missing out on a lot of fascinating developments. The field is in its "90's internet phase" right now. The tech is still immature, but is rapidly growing in capability and ambition. Just like most people in the 90's had no idea how "internet" would be used, I think our ability to conceive of VR/AR/XR/metaverse is similarly myopic. I would give it a 10-15 year timeline…

In the 90s, the internet was very much being used. It was so exciting that my friends and I sat waiting for 20-30 seconds to see content. We exchanged messages, played each other on Comamand and Conquer, looked at edgy content on forums. Now, my Oculus headset sits gathering dust in a cupboard. Nobody I know wants it because it's so boring using it for more than half an hour.

I agree with you, but my 9 year old uses our Oculus more than her tablet. She plays games with her friends from school mostly, but also watches movies on Netflix, etc.

I don't get it, but maybe I don't have to.

Re: Sheryl Sandberg stepping down as Facebook COO

#179

Post by firebaze »

echelon wrote: post #119
hervature wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel compelled to say that your second sentence is probably the funniest thing I've ever read on HN. It resonates very strongly with my belief that VR/Metaverse will continue to under deliver. What people want is an escape from reality. "Just like" Ready Player One or anything from a wide choice of science fiction novels. The problem is that these systems require a fundamental disconnect from reality. Not only do w…

You need to check out "Metaverse Twitter". You're missing out on a lot of fascinating developments. The field is in its "90's internet phase" right now. The tech is still immature, but is rapidly growing in capability and ambition. Just like most people in the 90's had no idea how "internet" would be used, I think our ability to conceive of VR/AR/XR/metaverse is similarly myopic. I would give it a 10-15 year timeline…

Sorry, don't buy into this. The main difference to me is "the people" in the 90s were nerds. Now in the best business scenario for facebook its the opposite: the more nerdiness, the worse business outcome. They have to cater for folks looking for anything but.

Re: Sheryl Sandberg stepping down as Facebook COO

#180

Post by ynx »

frisco wrote: post #25

I increasingly believe that Facebook’s pivot to Meta will end up going down as one of the biggest misses in the history of business. The metaverse is a real idea yes - but strapping a phone to your face and walking through your coffee table isn’t it. Especially not with a mediocre centralized FB owned “virtual world” where they inflict heavy taxes and content moderation. Facebook has neglected its core businesses for…

My money is on this comment aging poorly.

Not because there shouldn't be legitimate concerns about VR, but because it's pointing to Facebook execution fail as the only thing that matters to the success of the metaverse, and it's expecting that the timeline should have been further along by now.

Facebook has always built mediocre products. Its strength is in acquiring or copying good ones, and then jacking the internal engineering on them up to 11.

Apple is seen as putting out good products, but they put out the Newton, ROKR, and even internally designed the iPad before they released the iPhone. There is time to build a good product, and chances are, Facebook won't be the one to build it.

And yet - first year iPhone sales and first year Quest 2 sales are somewhat on par. There's reason for optimism, or at least not heavy pessimism, yet.

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