Sheryl Sandberg stepping down as Facebook COO • Hacker News Board

Re: Sheryl Sandberg stepping down as Facebook COO

#571

Post by dbbk » Thu, Jun 02, 2022, 10:15 AM UTC

berberous wrote: post #364

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…

Well, I strongly disagree. I would be shocked if VR/metaverse does not massively grow within the next 10 years. I think the headsets alone will continue to get massively better which will convert most of humanity, just like how much better iPhones got since the first one. In fact, I would bet anything on the foregoing, as I have near total confidence in that aspect. It’s much harder to figure out which companies will…

I am just curious as to what data suggests this is going to be a hugely popular thing. In my mind there are two examples of recent products that were on the same lines... Second Life and 3D TVs. Both were unsuccessful.

I'm just not seeing where the insight comes from that this is something people will want on a huge scale. Even if you solve the current problems of the headsets being painful to wear over long periods. I just don't think people want their attention to be hijacked.

Re: Sheryl Sandberg stepping down as Facebook COO

#572

Post by 2143 » Thu, Jun 02, 2022, 10:30 AM UTC

nickysielicki wrote: post #400

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…

To play devils advocate, Facebook is more essential to my life than it ever was before. * Marketplace was a huge success in terms of subsuming Craigslist. The quality of posts and the volume of postings makes me rarely even check Craigslist anymore. * Small forums for various hobbies are almost entirely driven by Facebook groups now, instead of in the past where you’d find some custom bulletin board where the last po…

We probably live in different universes.

I quit FB for good about 5 years ago. At that point it was all trash.

> Marketplace was a huge success

Whoa they have a marketplace?! Since when?

> Small forums for various hobbies

For my hobbies there are still bulletin boards! Of course, Reddit's very useful as well.

It's likely that there's good conversations I'm missing out on because I'm not on FB, but I'm not aware of what I'm missing out. Don't really care.

> Messenger is the sole mechanism I have to keep in touch

WhatsApp (owned by FB) is ubiquitous. Nobody uses Messenger, even if both parties are on it.

Where I'm at (I'm not in USA), FB was all the rage about 12 years ago. But now none of my friends — people who I actually know — use it. However, I think a lot of people use Instagram (again, under FB), which I've never tried.

Re: Sheryl Sandberg stepping down as Facebook COO

#573

Post by feynmanalgo » Thu, Jun 02, 2022, 10:43 AM UTC

> Sandberg said the decision to step down will allow her to focus more on her philanthropic work.

After heading the company that created enormous psychological and sociological issues in the world and was/is involved in shady, anti privacy, illegal, anti-competition dealings she just gets to retire and focus on her "philanthropic" work. She's the modern equivalent of a robber baron.

Re: Sheryl Sandberg stepping down as Facebook COO

#574

Post by dathinab » Thu, Jun 02, 2022, 11:48 AM UTC

nickysielicki wrote: post #400

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…

To play devils advocate, Facebook is more essential to my life than it ever was before. * Marketplace was a huge success in terms of subsuming Craigslist. The quality of posts and the volume of postings makes me rarely even check Craigslist anymore. * Small forums for various hobbies are almost entirely driven by Facebook groups now, instead of in the past where you’d find some custom bulletin board where the last po…

Counter point: Outside of the US I don't know anyone using any of this except Messenger for keeping in contact with some people. And the last point is generally seen as a necessary evil, i.e. something they would love to change asap if they could.

EDIT: Correction, anyone below the age of 60.

Re: Sheryl Sandberg stepping down as Facebook COO

#575

Post by dathinab » Thu, Jun 02, 2022, 12:05 PM UTC

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…

> first announced the rebrand

Honestly I was offended as I would say their rebrand is cultural appropriation.

They didn't invent the "metaverse" it's a by now decades old idea you find in many, maybe even most science fiction novels. Neither is using the term meta in this context.

In some way they basically try to forceful appropriate this to redefine it as a Facebook thing.

But this might also be why they might fail!

Because the term metaverse is already used in such a generic way by so many parties that it only stands for a vague "interconnected vr world" thingy, i.e. you could argue that even by now any trade mark protection law suite is already a lost cause (at least in the EU).

Similar have fun protecting Meta as a trademark for anything which is meta (like metadata, like most things in VR...).

I mean sure Apple is called Apple, but that only works because they have nothing to do with Apples...

Anyway putting that aspect aside there is another three problems with there vision:

- added values - convenience - accessibility

For success the added value must outclass any inconvenience especially such cause through problems of accessibility.

But for multiple of their use cases this is not the case, like e.g. the VR meeting rooms are much less convenient then voice/video calls and add hardly any value. Worse their are less accessible and might legally not be usable by any company hold to accessibility standards.

Another example would be e.g. 3d web, which died because for most use cases it added hardly any value over 2d text based web.

Similar things like slack became successful due to it being simple text based, if it would have been based around a vr room it would have flopped even if everyone has the right hardware to run it performant.

Pretty much the main important point I think Facebook would need to succeed in is to convince most people working in front of a computer that they want to work with a VR headset instead, but who wants to ware a VR headset 8 hours a day.

Re: Sheryl Sandberg stepping down as Facebook COO

#576

Post by sgerenser » Thu, Jun 02, 2022, 12:11 PM UTC

dreamcompiler wrote: post #520

MichaelBurge wrote: post #456

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is the cashier's check fake? What happens if you meet them at the listed bank and ask them to convert it to cash right there?

Yes, the cashier's check is fake. And they will never meet you at the originating bank. I've even had cashier's checks mailed to me from my Craigslist ads. Called the originating banks and they verified over the phone that the checks were fake. When I sell something on Craigslist, it's cash-only and they have to meet me at a public place and pick up the item in person. And I verify the bills are not counterfeit befor…

Our local police station has a parking lot next to it with a big sign that says “online purchase transaction point” or something to that effect. There are cameras monitoring the lot. Just suggesting meeting at said location is usually sufficient to clear out the scammers.

Re: Sheryl Sandberg stepping down as Facebook COO

#577

Post by wallacoloo » Thu, Jun 02, 2022, 12:34 PM UTC

colinmhayes wrote: post #445

glofish wrote: post #420

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Each of these: Markeplace, Forums, Messenger are non sticky and with countless alternatives. For example one could easily have two-three chat apps and use each with different people. I still use Craigslist, I think it works better and has better organization of categories. The main Facebook app, now that is a unique product - yet frankly, from my perspective it feels completely marginalized, the content there is in w…

Completely disagree. Those three things are all gated by intense network effects. Social media type products are generally as sticky as they come. Facebook will continue to be the platform that everyone uses, because who wants to be on a marketplace or messaging app that doesn't have the most people? > one could easily have two-three chat apps and use each with different people I guess theoretically, but in reality,…

i don’t know. the past decade has been everyone shouting about network effects, yet i can’t count on either hand the number of matching-related apps i’ve both left and joined over that duration. on the other hand, i’m still using basically the same http networking protocol during that same duration. network effects are real (hence http still dominating), but the higher you crawl up the stack the “softer” the effect.

Re: Sheryl Sandberg stepping down as Facebook COO

#578

Post by HWR_14 » Thu, Jun 02, 2022, 12:53 PM UTC

Siira wrote: post #567

HWR_14 wrote: post #370

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Just like people buy iPhones not withstanding the cost, moderation, App Store tax, etc, because the iPhone is what users want. Unless you jailbreak it or turn on scary developer mode all those apply on Android too. Hell, iPhones are cheaper than some Android flagships now.

You can install APKs directly on Android. It only takes one not-that-scary checkbox.

Yes, you can. I can. The average consumer? I would never suggest my parents check that box. In fact, I would advise against it in very strong terms.

I'm not saying Android doesn't offer that freedom to some. I'm saying most people don't (and shouldn't) use it.

Re: Sheryl Sandberg stepping down as Facebook COO

#579

Post by nickysielicki » Thu, Jun 02, 2022, 1:22 PM UTC

2143 wrote: post #572

nickysielicki wrote: post #400

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To play devils advocate, Facebook is more essential to my life than it ever was before. * Marketplace was a huge success in terms of subsuming Craigslist. The quality of posts and the volume of postings makes me rarely even check Craigslist anymore. * Small forums for various hobbies are almost entirely driven by Facebook groups now, instead of in the past where you’d find some custom bulletin board where the last po…

We probably live in different universes. I quit FB for good about 5 years ago. At that point it was all trash. > Marketplace was a huge success Whoa they have a marketplace?! Since when? > Small forums for various hobbies For my hobbies there are still bulletin boards! Of course, Reddit's very useful as well. It's likely that there's good conversations I'm missing out on because I'm not on FB, but I'm not aware of wh…

> For my hobbies there are still bulletin boards! Of course, Reddit's very useful as well.

Find me a forum with 10k members and hundreds of active users that’s dedicated almost entirely to the North American use of the BMW M57. Because that’s the sort of thing Facebook has.

You might think that you’re getting along fine without these forums but I promise you, if you’re not on the site you’re missing conversations.

Re: Sheryl Sandberg stepping down as Facebook COO

#580

Post by baby » Thu, Jun 02, 2022, 1:58 PM UTC

nickysielicki wrote: post #400

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…

To play devils advocate, Facebook is more essential to my life than it ever was before. * Marketplace was a huge success in terms of subsuming Craigslist. The quality of posts and the volume of postings makes me rarely even check Craigslist anymore. * Small forums for various hobbies are almost entirely driven by Facebook groups now, instead of in the past where you’d find some custom bulletin board where the last po…

Same for me. Just a few days ago I realized that my hotel in Milan was next door to a hostel where an old friend was staying. I went out and walked there to say hi. The “nearby friends” feature let us realize this. How insanely awesome is that? It was like 30min before my train so he walked me to the station and we managed to get coffee and croissant before I departed.