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Facebook's TikTok-like redesign marks sunset of social networking era

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Re: Facebook's TikTok-like redesign marks sunset of social networking era

#201

Post by batiudrami »

next_xibalba wrote: post #40
SrslyJosh wrote: post #6

Nobody hates Facebook users more than Facebook, I guess. :-/ I've tried to type out several pithy comments, but the bottom line (to me) is that Facebook just doesn't respect its users or care about their needs. Can you imagine if brick-and-mortar businesses tried to do this? You go out for a Big Mac, but it's not on the menu anymore because Taco Bell had a few really good quarters, so McDonald's decided to pivot to t…

> the bottom line (to me) is that Facebook just doesn't respect its users or care about their needs. Wouldn't a consequence of this be that Facebook would be losing users in drovers? And yet the data seem to disagree. This is a type of take that feels very "inside baseball" and fueled more by the feelings of its proponents than any kind of empiricism.

It depends how you measure it, right? I now only use Facebook for events and that is because there is nothing else that competes. Everything else in the Facebook app is awful, and even events is increasingly user-hostile. I recently deleted instagram (an app I actually used to really like!). But I still count as a daily active user in their reporting.

I wonder what their internal engagement metrics look like. I bet Facebook’s feed engagement (which is their primary ad display) on the Facebook app is way down, because the feed sucks. Instagram risks doing the same with this frenzied push for engagement.

Re: Facebook's TikTok-like redesign marks sunset of social networking era

#202

Post by matt_heimer »

jfim wrote: post #188
hiimshort wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've enjoyed the analogy so adding onto it: Google would open up 5 competing, different burger places next to each other and then close them all down a year later, confused that none of them did well enough. All to open a new Taco stand on the other side of town and claim it's got the same great food you liked before (it doesn't).

They'd also switch how one orders food every 18 months, and have them migrate to the new way of ordering food. Food ordering in gmail, food ordering as an app, food ordering using a kiosk, then back to an app, then merge it into the wallet app because why not.

And the food is delivered using an old-school automat format where you can see people on the other side but never talk to them if anything is wrong.

Re: Facebook's TikTok-like redesign marks sunset of social networking era

#203

Post by imiric »

groffee wrote: post #35
yalogin wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not that easy. This is life and death for Facebook. TikTok is really taking over and is a force. It’s also a Chinese company and so they can’t buy it. They are forced to compete, either they do this or become fully irrelevant

Facebook is dying, but not because of TikTok. Facebook is dying because they stopped being Facebook. If they gave what's left of their userbase what they actually wanted (chronological feed, seeing friends posts, not seeing spam, more ways to interact (bring back pets, gifts, superpokes etc)) they'd do ok. It doesn't help that their core code is a steaming pile of bloated dung that doesn't seem to be tested by anyone…

> Facebook is dying because they stopped being Facebook. If they gave what's left of their userbase what they actually wanted (chronological feed, seeing friends posts, not seeing spam, more ways to interact (bring back pets, gifts, superpokes etc)) they'd do ok.

I have no horse in this race, but why do you think you know what's better for FB more than the thousands of smart engineers and PMs working there?

They clearly saw TikTok as a direct threat, and, probably fueled by thousands of data-driven tests, confirmed that this change results in more engagement and keeps more people on their site for longer.

What you seem to want from FB is likely what a minority of its older userbase wants, but wouldn't make graphs go up and right as much. They need to attract younger generations and new users if they want to do that.

Re: Facebook's TikTok-like redesign marks sunset of social networking era

#204

Post by jhugo »

irjustin wrote: post #172
mysterydip wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's what people want, per se. I think it's what some metrics say people want. Might be good for "engagement", but bad for retention in the long term. People were on facebook for the features facebook had.

> I don't think it's what people want, per se. I think it's what some metrics say people want This is true and realistically this is what any business should be chasing. People don't know what they want is something I sincerely believe in. I do agree that people are good a voicing problems, but not desires.

Engagement is a pretty shitty metric when used in isolation though. I've worked at places where changes that increased engagement were considered successful at higher levels even though the support team knew the increased engagement was caused by increased confusion and friction in using the product.

Re: Facebook's TikTok-like redesign marks sunset of social networking era

#205

Post by xwdv »

kumarvvr wrote: post #190
xwdv wrote: post #74

It’s crazy to think the social media era may finally be ending. There’s really no viable platform anymore where you can just go passively keep up with what friends and acquaintances are doing. Everything is about feeding you content you didn’t ask for but may be targeted enough to catch your attention. And for what? To show you some ads here and there? To collect data that can be used to… sell more ads and products?…

> There’s really no viable platform anymore where you can just go passively keep up with what friends and acquaintances are doing. Whatsapp, Telegram and Signal fill that place quite nicely. I regularly check my Whatsapp contacts status messages. Most of them are filled with things from their daily lives. I have a bunch of groups in Telegram, both personal and professional. I feel FB style of "feed" thing has become…

Checking WhatsApp statuses is like checking peoples away messages on AIM.

I think a feed is still the best way to deliver updates, but they seem to quickly get corrupted for monetization and algorithmic manipulation.

Re: Facebook's TikTok-like redesign marks sunset of social networking era

#206

Post by SoftTalker »

yieldcrv wrote: post #148
owlninja wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdotally I quit Facebook in 2016 but of my friends and family that still use it, I would say most simply use it for marketplace. They may still view the updates that people still post to see what's going on but it doesn't seem to be near as about keeping in touch (I'm in the US).

Marketplace and the groups for goods or meeting up are full scammers and time wasters People are under the illusion of some fleeting chance of working as advertised

Yep. One of the reasons that old-style classified ads in newspapers worked is that you had to pay to post an ad. Did people run scams in newspaper classifieds? Yes, but by and large the ads were legit. Today, legitimate online marketplace ads are drowned by the scam ads.

Re: Facebook's TikTok-like redesign marks sunset of social networking era

#207

Post by HeyItsMatt »

naravara wrote: post #41
groffee wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook is dying, but not because of TikTok. Facebook is dying because they stopped being Facebook. If they gave what's left of their userbase what they actually wanted (chronological feed, seeing friends posts, not seeing spam, more ways to interact (bring back pets, gifts, superpokes etc)) they'd do ok. It doesn't help that their core code is a steaming pile of bloated dung that doesn't seem to be tested by anyone…

When I started using Facebook it wasn't a newsfeed, it was just a personal homepage with a photo album and a bulletin board attached. I'd love to have something like that again that everyone uses, but everything is about goosing the influencer economy now rather than letting me socialize.

I'd love it if Meetup had a threaded discussion board with a way to pin photos and video. All my social networks would use it.

That's actually what Google+ was with circles before the morons in charge forcibly bundled it into Youtube and killed it. Google should have had some patience like the people over at Musical.ly and built an audience organically rather than shoving unwanted garbage down our throats.

Re: Facebook's TikTok-like redesign marks sunset of social networking era

#208

Post by aahortwwy »

next_xibalba wrote: post #50
maxfurman wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They just posted their first net user loss - so maybe not "in droves" but their username is certainly declining and will continue to do so without drastic change

Where are you getting this information? AFAIK, 2Q22 earnings (and metrics) are released tomorrow. The whispers I've heard are that any loss of M/DAU is contained to Europe and is caused by Russia going offline.

> Social media giant Facebook has seen its daily active users (DAUs) drop for the first time in its 18-year history.

> Facebook's owner Meta Platforms says DAUs fell to 1.929bn in the three months to the end of December [2021], compared to 1.930bn in the previous quarter.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-60238565

Re: Facebook's TikTok-like redesign marks sunset of social networking era

#210

Post by cassianoleal »

stevenjgarner wrote: post #158
owlninja wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdotally I quit Facebook in 2016 but of my friends and family that still use it, I would say most simply use it for marketplace. They may still view the updates that people still post to see what's going on but it doesn't seem to be near as about keeping in touch (I'm in the US).

For those of us in families that are spread over the globe in a dozen time zones and separated in different countries, what other methods of connection even come close to social media? Facebook (and the rest) have provided a way for us to vicariously experience glimpses into each other's lives and in many cases reconnect with people who we never would have otherwise.

I have siblings, cousins and other relatives and friends spread around the globe.

We keep in touch over Signal, WhatsApp, FaceTime, Jitsi, Messages... It's a little more work. We don't speak as often as we used to see each other's posts on Facebook but when we do get in touch it's a lot more personal and meaningful. It's not rare either. I speak to some pretty much daily, others weekly to monthly, and others perhaps more spread apart but it's always great when we do get in touch.

No vicarious experiences, no voyeurism into one another's lifes. Only pure and intentional human connection with all the imperfections that come with it. I recommend it.

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