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Facebook Will Introduce Ads as Videos Start, a Move Long Resisted

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Re: Facebook Will Introduce Ads as Videos Start, a Move Long Resisted

#81
post #27

If I was Facebook, I'd start to think about how to add more value to people's lives. Their monetisation strategy is becoming increasingly annoying and their service is not adding enough value to counter that. People will eventually leave if you irritate them enough (see also comments on https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15922022 )

If I was Facebook, I'd start downsizing my company to a slim and trim archival service, maybe even start charging a fee for executive functionality (like what? I dunno) to help support server costs. Maybe even go distributed content where everyone hosts (encrypted) content and shares bandwidth.

IMHO online social networks have a 5-7 year half life, after that they stagnate and die because the company tries to chase ad dollars (the easiest dollars to get) and step by step degrades their usefulness.

For some reason we don't model business on natural systems (birth -> growth -> reproduction -> death). Seems to me that'd be a good idea if we want to be around in a million years.

Re: Facebook Will Introduce Ads as Videos Start, a Move Long Resisted

#82
post #68
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The greatest thing I did was delete Facebook off my phone. Here are the benefits I discovered: - I didn't miss anything. Turns out there wasn't any real quality content on there anyway. - My battery lasts 2x longer. - I seem to be happier. No joke. With all the rage articles and click bait headlines gone, I am far more happier. - I am way more informed now. I visit allsides.com and get the news there. I quickly get u…

- Spend much more time on HackerNews. Jokes aside, I did the same. Its a healthy move, I also forgot my FB password on my main computer and have not gone through the trouble of using chrome to look it up.

Did the same, same effect on time on HN!

Re: Facebook Will Introduce Ads as Videos Start, a Move Long Resisted

#83
I use Messenger to get in touch with my friends from college and I'm a member of a private group about AI. I actually don't use the birthday list because, be honest, do you know if all your close friends and relatives on Facebook did send you a birthday greeting? I have other notifications for my immediate family's birthdays, I send them a text or call them at their birthday instead.

Deleting the Facebook app has been liberating. I spend more time learning new stuff, consuming entertainment I actually enjoy, and building stuff than I did before. Facebook was really unhealthy for me, and it could be that I'm approaching my 30s but it just gives me no lasting enjoyment anymore.

Re: Facebook Will Introduce Ads as Videos Start, a Move Long Resisted

#84
post #67
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdotal, but the only time I've ever hear that phrase in the past 3 years is for my college meme group (one of the few reasons I am still on Facebook). As far as I know, nothing happens on Facebook for anyone under 25. As you get older, life event announcements are about the only thing I can imagine would be useful.

Maybe it's just my friend group, but absolutely everything is scheduled and planned through Facebook events. I basically don't visit, I use Social Fixer to trim down the news feed when I do, but Events is invaluable.

Yeah, I think it's just a matter of social circles. For me, events exist on Facebook, but plenty of people get invited off of Facebook, and the events are private so there's no discovery aspect you'd get in your news feed. I get told in person about most parties or events before seeing an invite on Facebook.

I do like and use events on Facebook, but I wish it was any other service at this point. It's all about the network effect though, it doesn't matter how many better options there are if no one has an account there.

Re: Facebook Will Introduce Ads as Videos Start, a Move Long Resisted

#85
post #71
post #47

Who cares? Only morons use FB. Let them consume video ads.

But if you knew that a majority of the population was simply watching advertisements, wouldn't it annoy you? Facebook has commoditized the social nature of humanity and now they are selling it. I highly doubt Mark would let his daughter freely roam FB.

[deleted]

Re: Facebook Will Introduce Ads as Videos Start, a Move Long Resisted

#86
Facebook is just a feed of only fake promoted posts now. It's become like producthunt but promoting everything indirectly. I can't even see posts of pages I like anymore. Couple of times I found that Facebook automatically unliked pages that I had liked and haven't seen their posts in a year or something.

Re: Facebook Will Introduce Ads as Videos Start, a Move Long Resisted

#87
post #60

They're dying, it may be a very slow death but the process has begun. They will become like Yahoo, Myspace, Aol, etc. They are not a Google that can pivot and do a number of different things. Also I've come to realize that Google has a much different relationship with it's users, Google doesn't try to suck up all your time it just tries to give you what you want when you want it, Facebook tries to gamify everything s…

They've maintained their positions through acquisitions. Facebook itself could be on a slow decline, but if Instagram and Whatsapp do well are they really dying?

Re: Facebook Will Introduce Ads as Videos Start, a Move Long Resisted

#88
post #32

Facebook has become almost completely useless to me yet I waste so much time on it every day. No one posts anything on it except like 3 guys who post 10 times a day that I barely know yet find their extremist political posts mind numbingly amusing. The news on there is trash, I much prefer the WSJ and if I want sensationalist things I'll go to Reddit and my tastes are more niche now so I have some forums I visit occa…

Just delete your account and don't look back. I did years ago and have no regrets. It's junk food.

I've been happy with a middle ground lately:

* Do not install it on my phone. My long, complex password isn't even stored there, so I couldn't log in if I wanted.

* Open https://mbasic.facebook.com/ in a private tab on my computer when I want to post something or check in, then close it when I'm done. This greatly reduces tracking surface (no JS), and provides just enough friction to eliminate compulsive checking or interaction.

It's like not buying a giant bag of potato chips every time you go to the store.

Re: Facebook Will Introduce Ads as Videos Start, a Move Long Resisted

#89
post #60

They're dying, it may be a very slow death but the process has begun. They will become like Yahoo, Myspace, Aol, etc. They are not a Google that can pivot and do a number of different things. Also I've come to realize that Google has a much different relationship with it's users, Google doesn't try to suck up all your time it just tries to give you what you want when you want it, Facebook tries to gamify everything s…

They've maintained their positions through acquisitions. Facebook itself could be on a slow decline, but if Instagram and Whatsapp do well are they really dying?

What I would be worried about is that the same practices of monetization that killed Facebook are seeping into Instagram. At what point are they just a poison that slowly kills anything it touches? I think they already are but the deaths are slow.

Re: Facebook Will Introduce Ads as Videos Start, a Move Long Resisted

#90
post #63
post #51

I will never understand why people insist on using Facebook. What is the appeal? If you’re worth talking to, I will give you my phone number and we can text. For longer messages, I will send you an email. I can keep track of my contacts inside the Address book of my phone. What need exactly is Facebook filling?

For me Facebook fills the need of a centralized place to communicate with my close friends via Messenger, a place to keep track of niche interests via groups, and a place to get invites to events by friends that I don't see or talk to as often. I also use it to keep track of a few news sources. I get it that some people don't want to use Facebook, but you really can't understand why other people make a different deci…

Oh i get it. My wife loves Facebook. It gives her a perfect easy way to communicate with the people she wants to communicate with.

I don't hate Facebook. I just don't have any reason to use it.

I do hate ads though and i will keep trying to stop them.

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