Live data from Hacker News

Facebook Renames to Meta

about.facebook.com

451–460 of 1001 posts

Re: Facebook Renames to Meta

#451
post #402

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If there is going to be a metaverse, I'm not sure I want Facebook to own it. It's like a bad sci-fi pulp story. I'm confident I don't want them to own it - or for it to be owned by a single party of any kind, for that matter. > Given their investment and research, I wonder if they should open it all up (even if contradictory to short-term gains in ad revenue) so it has a chance to grow? I mean, that would be nice f…

> How much would it cost to just send every one of them an Oculus headset for free? That's the wrong question. The right question is "how many FB users would accept a free headset that advertisers paid for in exchange for access to your data and exclusive rights to place ads in front of you?"

We can answer this by looking at how many facebook users are okay (implicitly) with using facebook in exchange for access to their data and exclusive rights to place ads right in front of them. The answer is 100%

Re: Facebook Renames to Meta

#452
post #417

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I don't think Facebook is constitutionally able to give up ad revenue gains This "fiduciary duty" meme really needs to die. Seriously the idea of fiduciary duty [to maximixe profit] is dystopian, corporations don't fuck us over because they have to they do it because they can. Edit: clarify

They have a legal obligation to maximize shareholder profits. See Dodge v. Ford Motor Co. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodge_v._Ford_Motor_Co .

They have a legal obligation to maximise shareholder value, but what that entails courts will generally leave up to the discretion of the company's executives. In fact, the very first paragraph says precisely that:

> At the same time, the case affirmed the business judgment rule

What is the business judgement rule?

> The business judgment rule is a case law-derived doctrine in corporations law that courts defer to the business judgment of corporate executives.

In other words, if the CEO of a company says that he did something because e.g. he believed it was better for the long-term health of the company, the court will generally take his word for it, barring evidence of deliberate malfeasance.

What one cannot do is as Ford did, which was to deliberately try and hurt other shareholders.

Re: Facebook Renames to Meta

#453
post #125

The video they put out is extremely cringe. The whole “metaverse” thing is cringe. It makes me believe Zuckerberg is completely surrounded by yes-men who never challenge him and only tell him what he likes to hear. He is truly detached from us normal people and our human experience.

To be fair, that’s the exact same sentiment I remember reading about Zuck on HN around the time Instagram and WhatsApp acquisitions happened. People were saying it was one of the dumbest business decisions, that Zuck is just desperate and without any brain trying to spend his FB money on acquisitions before FB inevitably dies of irrelevancy, etc. Look at today, and I think most people would agree that acquiring whats…

I agree that Facebook and Zuch can't be that stupid.

But for me, I can't see this working. There is no VR game that really killed it. I also don't see which generation would actually be into this.

So it's not a "idiots!", but more of a "what am I missing here?".

Will be interesting to see this play out

Re: Facebook Renames to Meta

#454
post #125

The video they put out is extremely cringe. The whole “metaverse” thing is cringe. It makes me believe Zuckerberg is completely surrounded by yes-men who never challenge him and only tell him what he likes to hear. He is truly detached from us normal people and our human experience.

To be fair, that’s the exact same sentiment I remember reading about Zuck on HN around the time Instagram and WhatsApp acquisitions happened. People were saying it was one of the dumbest business decisions, that Zuck is just desperate and without any brain trying to spend his FB money on acquisitions before FB inevitably dies of irrelevancy, etc. Look at today, and I think most people would agree that acquiring whats…

IG and WA were already wildly popular on a global scale when they were bought, though. People clearly wanted those. Is anyone on board with this “metaverse” thing outside of SV? To me this seems less like the IG and WA acquisitions, and more like the much hyped Facebook Phone and Facebook Home projects (RIP).

Re: Facebook Renames to Meta

#455

If there is going to be a metaverse, I'm not sure I want Facebook to own it. It's like a bad sci-fi pulp story. Given their investment and research, I wonder if they should open it all up (even if contradictory to short-term gains in ad revenue) so it has a chance to grow? Federate it a bit more than they are comfortable with, to at least give it a chance. I could see this flubbing out hard otherwise. I'm personally…

If what they're doing now is any indication, I don't think they'll succeed with it anyway. They've got almost zero credibility with anyone under 30.

Their existing prototypes are outrageously embarrassing. I'm the kind of person that has a hard time watching The Office because I feel second-hand embarrassment, and I can barely make it a minute in to any of their VR demos. They're so uncanny, awkward, and embarrassingly goofy. At least The Office has some endearing quality (sorry for the weird comparison).

I'm not sure if it's Mark Zuckerberg's influence or what... but everything about Facebook lacks some sort of jour de vive. Like, their idea of "making work fun" is stuff like... an astoundingly cringe-worth video about healthcare open-enrollment? This kind of thing dumbfounds me https://vimeo.com/639318528... and I don't even consider myself a cynical person.

All of this feels only a few degrees removed from Jonestown.

Re: Facebook Renames to Meta

#457
I do think VR will be part of our futures but I won't use Facebook as part of it.

When I was watching the keynote - about 10 mins in - I got redirected to login to Facebook. That is not cool.

Re: Facebook Renames to Meta

#458
post #368

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Still a faceless corporation though.

Having watched the downfall of MySpace, Orkut etc, I thought (hoped) same thing might happen to FaceBook. But now it feels like they are going to be around, for a long, long time. I don't know if anyone is even trying to take on them, Google seems to have given up on their social products. FB might not be fashionable anymore, people might even curse them, but they'll continue to use them at some level :( And they hav…

Well, Facebook in some demographics is above ity peak. The company however was able to acquire Instagram and keep Snapshot in a niche. Will be interesting how much TikTok will takeover in attention time. But for now they have a money printing machine and a good foundation.

Europe unfortunately is too weak unless they convince the U.S.

Re: Facebook Renames to Meta

#460

If a metaverse is hosted by FB, it'll come with all the drama, nonsense and toxicity we see on there today. The product (ie, today's users of FB) is what stinks to high heavens.

> If a metaverse is hosted by FB, it'll come with all the drama, nonsense and toxicity we see on there today

It is ridiculous to imply that it's somehow unique or exclusive to Facebook.

It exists on all of the social media platforms, across the web and in the real world. It is more a byproduct of anonymous interaction than something Facebook is specifically doing.

Post reply on HN