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The new Yahoo? Facebook should heed the lessons of internet history

economist.com

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Re: The new Yahoo? Facebook should heed the lessons of internet history

#61

Post by simonh »

TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #30

Being compared to the tobacco giants is one of the business world’s more toxic insults, but it is not the only unflattering analogy circulating. A lower blow is the suggestion that Facebook may become like Yahoo, the once high-flying internet firm that plunged. The article is by The Economists, but I tend think the societal costs outweigh the financial to shareholders and employees.

If you look at TE's content and editorial agenda, they take a very much larger view of their remit and the role of economics in society than just finance.

Re: The new Yahoo? Facebook should heed the lessons of internet history

#62

Post by TheSpiceIsLife »

simonh wrote: post #61
TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #30

Being compared to the tobacco giants is one of the business world’s more toxic insults, but it is not the only unflattering analogy circulating. A lower blow is the suggestion that Facebook may become like Yahoo, the once high-flying internet firm that plunged. The article is by The Economists, but I tend think the societal costs outweigh the financial to shareholders and employees.

If you look at TE's content and editorial agenda, they take a very much larger view of their remit and the role of economics in society than just finance.

True.

Re: The new Yahoo? Facebook should heed the lessons of internet history

#63

Post by myspy »

agumonkey wrote: post #19
iMark wrote: post #9

Yahoo failed, in part, because its competitors were better. Being better than Facebook doesn't mean just replicating its technology, it means having a better social graph. That's a hard problem to solve.

Facebook is one vision of ~modern life. Social networks are massively overrated in term of human value IMO. I think whatsapp is probably closer to what would be useful and not toxic. I don't believe people need profiles and graphs and whatever.

Absolutely agree to your assessment.

Re: The new Yahoo? Facebook should heed the lessons of internet history

#64

Post by bad_user »

sksksk wrote: post #34
thijsvandien wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is WhatsApp “improved” by reducing privacy and adding ads?

End to end encryption was added after the aquisition.

Encryption was already in the works via a collaboration with Open Whisper Systems, the makers of Signal (see signal.org).

AFAIK end to end encryption was actually part of the acquisition deal.

And now they regret it ;-)

Re: The new Yahoo? Facebook should heed the lessons of internet history

#65

Post by ian0 »

arethuza wrote: post #58
fabricexpert wrote: post #54

I know of a few people turning off IG and FB due to the volume of ads, when WhatsApp is monetized lots will do the same. Competitors can offer a similar experience to IG, WA and FB with less ads, because the margins are so massive for FB now, and their products are relatively easily replicated. It's VERY easy for user to switch to a competitor compared with other industries. The scale of the network is hard to achiev…

Does that mean that the valuation of new companies in this space would be reduced once it becomes clear that the whole market is cyclical and by monetizing you start to kill your product?

Id say the value of new earlier stage companies in the space will increase given its obvious FB needs to constantly buy new properties to keep the machine running :)

Re: The new Yahoo? Facebook should heed the lessons of internet history

#66

Post by simonh »

metildaa wrote: post #56
TekMol wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Am I an active user? Yes Am I an active user? Yes Am I an active user? Yes Am I an active user? Yes

Pretty sure OP is a passive user, and is extremely susceptible to better tools for OP's needs coming along, eg: the current crop of buy/sell/trade apps/PWAs out there.

There's no such thing as a passive user to facebook through. There are accounts with no activity at all and are simply dead, and accounts with activity. That's it. An active user is simply an account that it still used from time to time. The point is the metric tells you nothing about how it is used.

Re: The new Yahoo? Facebook should heed the lessons of internet history

#67

Post by AlexandrB »

bennyelv wrote: post #23
MagnaEterna wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are all old. Facebook will probably still be functioning for the next 40 years until it's users finally die and then it's over.

But Instagram users aren't, and there's nothing stopping Facebook from buying whatever the next generation of youth start using to replace Instagram when its time comes. The question is can they make enough cash to make the model perpetual.

> there's nothing stopping Facebook from buying whatever the next generation of youth start using to replace Instagram when its time comes.

Hopefully antitrust law will stop them, because with a behemoth like Facebook buying up every new, exciting social network real innovation, especially in monetization, will continue to be a myth.

Re: The new Yahoo? Facebook should heed the lessons of internet history

#68

Post by philpem »

iamzozo wrote: post #11
kilroy123 wrote: post #8

From reading some of the stuff Yahoo put out back in their prime. I always got the sense that they thought they would never fall and were maybe a bit invincible. I think Zuckerberg and Facebook in general, are very aware that Facebook is on the decline, they need to diversify. That's why they bought Instagram and used it to flight Snap. That's why they spent such an insane amount on WhatsApp. Zuckerberg knows they ne…

Simply, they can't create the next big thing outside of facebook. That's why they bought things.

Maybe they'll become the next Myspace?

"Facebook? You still use that? Everyone's on MyFaceWebsiteBookThing now..."

Re: The new Yahoo? Facebook should heed the lessons of internet history

#70

Post by puranjay »

King-Aaron wrote: post #16
Lordarminius wrote: post #15

Facebook is dead. It's just taking a long time for this to become apparent.

There's around 2.23 billion active users you might want to pass that message on to.

The people who should on Facebook aren't there any more - the young and the influential

You can't grow with an audience base filled with 50 year olds.

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