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Google’s new popup will further weaken Facebook’s advertisement business

thebigtech.substack.com

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Re: Google’s new popup will further weaken Facebook’s advertisement business

#61

Post by esrauch »

mrweasel wrote: post #12
an_opabinia wrote: post #3

The value of the location based tracking is overrated. Anyway, if you post an image to Facebook, Instagram or WhatsApp, the EXIF data has your location, or it can be solved from the content of the image.

With the exception of people who travel a lot, I really don't see why location, beyond what users enter into Facebook themself, would be particular useful. That seems to be the theme with Facebook, they collect a ton of information that isn't obviously useful. So what do Facebook know that the rest of us don't? Because the engineers at Facebook aren't stupid, they must have a reason for collecting all this stuff. Per…

Id assume that people who are currently traveling are much more valuable targets: things like tour packages are something high margin and highly contextual.

Like, even if you only leave your home town once every two years, it might be worth more to facebook on that special occasion than the rest of the time.

Re: Google’s new popup will further weaken Facebook’s advertisement business

#62

Post by Sunspark »

johannes1234321 wrote: post #40
spoonjim wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook realized that no amount of money was going to will a third mobile OS into existence. cf. Microsoft.

They didn't even find enough users for their Android "launcher" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook_Home A Facebook phone probably would give even more critical reception ...

Years ago a Facebook phone was planned. Its differentiating feature as I recall it was the "like" button.

Re: Google’s new popup will further weaken Facebook’s advertisement business

#63

Post by Sunspark »

onelovetwo wrote: post #47
arcanus wrote: post #2

Corporate warfare in the internet age. Interesting to see how Apple and Google can materially impact FB.

Whats iconic is Google themselves have been using bluetooth for years to track your location. This still doesnt limit Google themselves using it, just third party apps. hence why it wont affect their ad business. This is a win win for Google, slow down competition and give the illusion of privacy to users.

You can turn off wifi and bluetooth scanning beacons in your device's settings. It helps.

Re: Google’s new popup will further weaken Facebook’s advertisement business

#64

Post by baby »

motoboi wrote: post #4

So we basically are seeing that google was "right" from their point of view in securing a mobile OS. Facebook maybe thought this day would never arrive and could have avoided that by doing their own mobile OS too. Well, maybe they declared this battle as lost and focused on the next one: VR. Problem is that VR took too long to arrive and death on mobile can kill Facebook?

I remember that there was a facebook phone, don’t know what happened to it

Re: Google’s new popup will further weaken Facebook’s advertisement business

#65

Post by cardosof »

motoboi wrote: post #4

So we basically are seeing that google was "right" from their point of view in securing a mobile OS. Facebook maybe thought this day would never arrive and could have avoided that by doing their own mobile OS too. Well, maybe they declared this battle as lost and focused on the next one: VR. Problem is that VR took too long to arrive and death on mobile can kill Facebook?

I guess that's what happens when you start late. Everyone else has their moats in place and you either 1) start from scratch at hardware level and develop a new phone from the ground up - electronics, OS, utility apps, dev tools or 2) focus on creating the next platform.

Both are really high cost, complex, multi-year bets with lots of moving parts and no real hint of consumer adoption/market size until way after the ship's sailed.

In my opinion, as a consumer, they're really on the path to make VR happen and their wrist-based tech and Oculus is very promising. What VR still needs, after all those years since it's been accessible to the general public, is a killer app, and one can only guess why no one has developed it yet.

Re: Google’s new popup will further weaken Facebook’s advertisement business

#66

Post by prepend »

esrauch wrote: post #55
realusername wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a reason everybody wants you to install their app instead of just using their website, there's much more opportunity of tracking.

There's several reasons why everyone wants you to install the app, some of which aren't sketchy.

I get pop ups from sites all the time asking me to try their site, every darn time I visit. Mai it stuff like Reddit, Imgur, most news sites. I’ve tried the apps and they’re worse.

I’m not sure there’s any explanation other than more ad/data revenue.

Are there apps that give superior experience than web sites nowadays? Even not accounting for privacy, the apps are generally just shittier with less functionality.

I used to give the Google apps as examples of apps being better, but the gmail app is more buggy than just using gmail in a mobile browser, not to mention the integrated phone mail app.

Re: Google’s new popup will further weaken Facebook’s advertisement business

#67

Post by rolph »

mrweasel wrote: post #12
an_opabinia wrote: post #3

The value of the location based tracking is overrated. Anyway, if you post an image to Facebook, Instagram or WhatsApp, the EXIF data has your location, or it can be solved from the content of the image.

With the exception of people who travel a lot, I really don't see why location, beyond what users enter into Facebook themself, would be particular useful. That seems to be the theme with Facebook, they collect a ton of information that isn't obviously useful. So what do Facebook know that the rest of us don't? Because the engineers at Facebook aren't stupid, they must have a reason for collecting all this stuff. Per…

why recommend a location to buy a product on the other side of the city when you can recommend a location across the street or next door

Re: Google’s new popup will further weaken Facebook’s advertisement business

#68

Post by danaris »

speeder wrote: post #5

Whenever I read articles like this, I get more and more horrified. I mean, I know that adtech spy on us a lot, but I didn't knew for example that using Bluetooth while the app is shut down was possible. Makes me very wary even of dumbphones, for example I bought a dumbphone recently, and yet it came with Facebook and Google Assistant both pre-installed.

Get an iPhone. Whatever else you may think of them, Apple is deliberately working to prevent this sort of crap from happening without your knowledge and consent.

Re: Google’s new popup will further weaken Facebook’s advertisement business

#69

Post by arcturus17 »

esrauch wrote: post #55
realusername wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a reason everybody wants you to install their app instead of just using their website, there's much more opportunity of tracking.

There's several reasons why everyone wants you to install the app, some of which aren't sketchy.

> some of which aren't sketchy

I am as cynical about forcing apps down user's throats as anyone (Reddit, I'm looking at you), but the downvotes are a bit too much when this is a perfectly reasonable point, no?

Some cases for apps are perfectly legitimate, maybe the access to the phone APIs and the native experience is much better for a given product or service. I'm a firm believer in PWAs but as it stands I really prefer Uber or delivery apps to be native.

I really hope the people downvoting the parent comment are not the same people who are staunchly against web apps, though I suspect there will be some intersection. We can't have web apps, but we can't have native apps either... What can we have then, Geocities and MySpace?

Re: Google’s new popup will further weaken Facebook’s advertisement business

#70

Post by lima »

nvr219 wrote: post #39
dannyr wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me, it's a lesser evil thing I guess. If I have to choose only between Facebook and Google, I'd choose Google to have my data.

Why is that? Does Cambridge Analytica-type stuff not happen with Google? I feel the same way as you but not because I think one is less evil. Rather, it's because Google brings me much more value in its search engine and productivity suite.

Google has a reputation for good internal controls (that Facebook was lacking at the time).
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