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Introducing the Internet.org App

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Re: Introducing the Internet.org App

#81

Post by andre_lesa »

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #15

One of my sisters and her husband live in Zambia, where they do public health work. Specifically, he works on malaria[1], and one of the greatest challenges he faces is field data collection. Enabling everyone with a compatible phone to send in data would, I'm sure, be incredibly valuable. I'm bummed that there aren't any public health tools included in this app. Hopefully they'll consider adding something like that…

It also has Zambia ureport (zambiaureport.org), The ureport application itself is an SMS Counselling platform+polling+campaigning. What facebook is making available are the Frequently Asked Questions and answers.

...Am the developer on Zambia U-Report if anyone has any questions.

Re: Introducing the Internet.org App

#82

Post by jonaldomo »

Omniusaspirer wrote: post #67
dm2 wrote: post #5

I guess it's official, Facebook isn't going anywhere and will continue to become more and more part of our lives. They're getting close to the level of Google (which I do trust with my data because they are transparent about most issues before people start asking them to be). http://newsroom.fb.com/pages-directory/ http://newsroom.fb.com/resources-projects/ We can avoid Facebook all we want but one of these days ther…

"They trust me — dumb fucks" - Mark Zuckerberg While someone will come along and tell me he's changed so much since this comment and it's irrelevant at this point in time I still think it's foolish to place any trust in a company that was pretty much founded on this concept.

Interesting quote, I had to look up its validity. http://gawker.com/5636765/facebook-ceo-admits-to-calling-use...

Re: Introducing the Internet.org App

#83

Post by theklub »

raman325 wrote: post #59

The optimist in me applauds Facebook for the effort to provide basic data access to the developing world. The pessimist in me wonders if this is simply a brilliant strategy by Facebook to acquire the 4.5 billion people who aren't currently connected without having to compete with others. What's different between this and getting rid of net neutrality aside from side stepping the government entirely and doing it under…

This is old but this is why I would never trust Facebook.. http://www.businessinsider.com/well-these-new-zuckerberg-ims...

Re: Introducing the Internet.org App

#84

Post by ChikkaChiChi »

It's going to take Amazon being added to a list like this before the rest of the Capitalists lose their minds over this.

* Where is the documentation about the methodology for selecting what apps are available?

* Why is Accuweather, a private company, offered top billing over other global wearther forecasting services?

* Why is Google given "Internet Search" billing over Bing or DuckDuckGo? What happens if a company in Zambia wants to create their own search engine? How can they penetrate a market?

I wasn't expecting the closed Internet to ramp up this quickly, but this is absolutely terrifying to me from a consumer and business viewpoint.

Re: Introducing the Internet.org App

#85

Post by jonnykry »

walterbell wrote: post #73
lucb1e wrote: post #68

My perspective on this as I just said to someone: It's an opportunity I wouldn't pass on I guess, but this is basically net neutrality in reverse. When companies start deciding which websites are free and for which you pay the "normal" price, suddenly the normal price is extra. --- So yeah a Facebook app that offers Facebook access for free. How convenient, right? For good measure throw in another few services that l…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_town

Wow. I feel deceived for thinking this was a good idea.

I mean, it is a good idea... but this link's relevance is troubling.

Re: Introducing the Internet.org App

#86

Post by walterbell »

jonnykry wrote: post #85
walterbell wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_town

Wow. I feel deceived for thinking this was a good idea. I mean, it is a good idea... but this link's relevance is troubling.

Facebook PR has the analytics benefit of a big database of human emotions. Much opportunity for fine tuning of messages :(

Re: Introducing the Internet.org App

#87

Post by skyebook »

Net Neutrality issues aside (even though they scare me), it bothers me that they'd produce this in English as only 16% of the population speaks English.[0] A tiny percentage of Zambians claim English as their first language, what about the rest of the people who either don't have access to schools (where English is taught[1]) or don't have the level of comprehension required to navigate.

I would venture a guess that by filtering the numbers of English speakers by those who own mobile phones you'd jack up the percentage of English speakers, still.. this feels like it was designed more as a play to drive new users to sites than to genuinely get good information into the hands of those who need it.

Of course, I can't actually find the app anywhere, so if it were to come out that the app actually includes Bemba or Nyanja localizations.. I'd be taking a different tone. (FWIW, Facebook doesn't appear to support either [2])

[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_English-sp...

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Zambia

[2] https://www.facebook.com/translations/FacebookLocales.xml

Re: Introducing the Internet.org App

#88

Post by freyr »

dm2 wrote: post #5

I guess it's official, Facebook isn't going anywhere and will continue to become more and more part of our lives. They're getting close to the level of Google (which I do trust with my data because they are transparent about most issues before people start asking them to be). http://newsroom.fb.com/pages-directory/ http://newsroom.fb.com/resources-projects/ We can avoid Facebook all we want but one of these days ther…

I risk playing into the annoying stereotype (I quit Facebook and I can't stop telling everyone about it), I have felt an increased pull back to the service lately.

Not because I have any renewed interest in the site itself, but because more and more websites and apps using Facebook login as their primary registration/login mechanism (with some sites eschewing "register via email" completely).

A more egregious example is Stellar distributing free "money" to Facebook users. And not just any Facebook users, but Facebook users who are deemed sufficiently active, given some threshold on friend count or activity.

Giving Facebook reign over some official-sounding Internet.org portal is yet another attempt to entrench Facebook as a gatekeeper.

The utility of Facebook for consumers is no longer using the Facebook service itself -- which at its core was looking at friends' photos (Instagram & Snapchat do it better), reading status updates (Twitter is arguably better), checking into places (who cares), and viral casual games (mobile does it better) -- but rather using it as an identity service.

I'm uncomfortable with Facebook playing the role of the de facto online identity verification service, but that's where we're at.

Re: Introducing the Internet.org App

#89

Post by tn13 »

walterbell wrote: post #74
tn13 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has got nothing to do with net-neutrality. Say my workplace internet has blocked porn, does that mean my workplace internet is non net-neutral and harmful ? On the contrary it is more productive. When you are are getting something for free, someone else is spending money for you and clearly getting something for free is better that getting nothing. In case of Comcast etc. this is not the case because these servi…

A workplace is not a regulated Internet Service Provider. Another word for "getting something for free" is price-dumping. History has many examples of this tactic being used to destroy competitors. If someone wants to "sponsor" free traffic, they should be required to provide some percentage of that traffic for accessing the open internet, i.e. they cannot pay to remove choices from consumers. Would it be ok to air-d…

Precisely Internet.org is also not regulated internet service provider. Price-dumping is a perfectly acceptable strategy.
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