This is the maybe lamest justification for Microsoft's old (monopolistic practice of) "Embrace, Extend, Extinguish" I've read so far. The argument is just "yeah, and so what?"
Zuckerberg is just Rockefeller a Century later.
I only use Facebook because people send me messages on it.
Frankly I am not that impressed and wonder why someone cannot come
up with something far better.
But then, again, I am not a teenager.
I only use Facebook because people send me messages on it.
Frankly I am not that impressed and wonder why someone cannot come
up with something far better.
But then, again, I am not a teenager.
Zuckerberg is a parasite. He actually managed to enrich himself while crippling millions of people. Facebook is nothing more than a time-waster.
1
Instagram and WhatsApp are still enjoyable, because Zuckerberg hasn't tightened the monetization thumbscrews on those platforms yet. Once he does, they will become no fun, just like Facebook has become an annoying waste of time to many of it's users, both personal and business.
Turning adults into children by letting them apply silly filters to their photos is a great advance for mankind.
4
The biggest network is still the WW phone network. The biggest asset is its addressing infrastructure which is the foundation of SMS, WhatsApp and other messaging services. This network is not owned by a private company. Services will come and go. Do you remember all the special services offered to you by AT&T? They are gone - the same thing will happen to Facebook.
People will build their private spaces as soon as easy to use community services become available.
I am running "MyBook" for WW family and friends in Swiss cloud and enjoy privacy and protection from a liberal government.
People will build their private spaces as soon as easy to use community services become available.
I am running "MyBook" for WW family and friends in Swiss cloud and enjoy privacy and protection from a liberal government.
If you want to beat Facebook, just provide video streaming that doesn't pause every 10 seconds.
2
Here's a more detailed article on the FB phenomena to consider:
=========
Facebook and the Cost of Monopoly
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
https://stratechery.com/2017/facebook-and-the-cost-of-monopoly/
=========
Facebook and the Cost of Monopoly
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
https://stratechery.com/2017/facebook-and-the-cost-of-monopoly/
2
I feel stunned by how "flexible" our ideals can be. My country, China, has been long accused for relentlessly copying ideas that were innovated by American start-ups. Sometimes I really felt embarrased by that. But now, should I still feel bad? The author really does makes a point, and his point can certainly be used beyond Facebook-Snap case. Then maybe I should just tell anyone who accuses China, to quit barking about intellectual property, " All' fair in love and rainbow vomit"?
3
If Facebook really wants to improve, I'd suggest skipping all the gimmicky stuff; stop making unnecessary changes like rearranging tabs and search features on groups and pages and get rid of all the junk at the top of pages now that make you scroll way down to find a new post. Change the messaging format back the way it was (which now deletes a message I'm composing if I have to step away from the computer for 10 minutes); stop changing event pages which they've done a few times and just now shrunk the banner image down; and the worst: changing the basic FB search function! I used to type one letter into the search box and the corresponding page I admin out of many would come up. Click and I was there. Now I have trouble finding the pages I admin, and at minimum it takes typing their names out in full and several clicks. Change it back, FB.
Every time Facebook changes something, it's never BETTER, it's worse and more aggravating. Fire the 12-year-olds who seem to be redesigning Facebook, and hire some adults. Millions of middle-aged people, Boomers, and seniors use FB and we don't like stuff changed for no good reason, and to have to keep learning new stuff. FB's functions don't work as well as they did and that's on Zuckerberg. Steal other's ideas and tech all he wants, he's still not an innovator. Sometimes innovation also means RELIABILITY and continuity. Or maybe Zuckerberg can start a Facebook for the under-21 crowd for people who like stuff changed on a weekly basis.
Every time Facebook changes something, it's never BETTER, it's worse and more aggravating. Fire the 12-year-olds who seem to be redesigning Facebook, and hire some adults. Millions of middle-aged people, Boomers, and seniors use FB and we don't like stuff changed for no good reason, and to have to keep learning new stuff. FB's functions don't work as well as they did and that's on Zuckerberg. Steal other's ideas and tech all he wants, he's still not an innovator. Sometimes innovation also means RELIABILITY and continuity. Or maybe Zuckerberg can start a Facebook for the under-21 crowd for people who like stuff changed on a weekly basis.
This is only one chapter. Yet, there is a library-sized history of how the copied faught back with even greater innovations. What Snap has in its favor is the good news that their pioneering has motivated others to mirror their success. Now, Snap needs to explore new markets to monetize: http://www.scanmyphotos.com/blog/2017/03/snapchat-poised-disappear.html
As for fighting back, whether it's Facebook or even Google, when they encroach on your business, pause to smile that you have attracted attention, then pounce back like this: http://www.scanmyphotos.com/blog/2016/12/history-of-photo-scanning.html
Mitch Goldstone
President & CEO
ScanMyPhotos.com
As for fighting back, whether it's Facebook or even Google, when they encroach on your business, pause to smile that you have attracted attention, then pounce back like this: http://www.scanmyphotos.com/blog/2016/12/history-of-photo-scanning.html
Mitch Goldstone
President & CEO
ScanMyPhotos.com
Ben Thompson at Stratechery wrote a much better article on the consequences of Facebook's network monopoly, and how it is a net negative for competition and innovation: https://stratechery.com/
It's an insightful look at what consumer and producer surplus really mean in the digital sphere. This apologia reads like it was drafted by a neural net trained on the last 10 years of blithe tech boosterism.
It's an insightful look at what consumer and producer surplus really mean in the digital sphere. This apologia reads like it was drafted by a neural net trained on the last 10 years of blithe tech boosterism.
6
"It's the network"? That's not what Facebook calls itself when you run afoul of their censors. Call someone out for a racist post and you might, or then again might not, be blocked for "violating Facebook's community standards." The censors are so unpredictable and rules applied so unevenly, you never really know what is acceptable, other than much outright racism, bigotry, and misogyny. Sorry, Mark, Facebook is not a "community." It is a social media platform that is occasionally useful but not the only game in town. I am looking forward to exporting everything I have posted there to another platform that does not pretend to be a "community."
2
Among the people I'm friends with, 18-20 year olds, Snapchat reigns king. I think a fair number of us still use Facebook messenger, but that's on the decline, being replaced by Snapchat. I think we will see Facebook begin to decline, if it hasn't already, in usership among young people in developed countries. This growth will be ignored because of of growth in emerging markets like Africa and India but I think it foreshadows the future of Facebook, if it doesn't begin to innovate rather than copy. Apple, Microsoft and Google have been notorious for copying other technology for years. And they've made a whole lot of money doing so. Microsoft copied the GUI and most recently they've made huge inroads copying what Amazon has done in cloud computing. Apple was innovative with the iPhone but then started to copy wearable companies like Pebble with the Apple Watch or by buying Beats. These are all very profitable but these companies have lost all their sex appeal. I think if Steve Jobs was alive he would be horrified at what Apple has become. If Facebook continues copying Snapchat and other rather than innovating itself, I'm afraid it will become another one of these monolithic American tech companies. Rich but boring. There's more to iconic American technology companies than money. Facebook would do well to remember that.
3
Why does the Times pay this tout for the powerful who repeats the press releases of the powerful?
I miss the value added.
I miss the value added.
7
So Zukerberg is just doing what he did from day 1 when he "appropriated" the "content" of The Face Book files of his fellow students. The company was formed on fraud and continues to "appropriate" anything it wishes. There's nothing "social" about Facebook.
9
Facebook should never have been allowed to buy Instagram. It was the biggest mistake our regulations have made. Were they sleeping? Were fibs told?
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericjackson/2012/06/05/why-the-ftc-should-b...
https://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/16/disruptions-instagram-testimon...
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericjackson/2012/06/05/why-the-ftc-should-b...
https://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/16/disruptions-instagram-testimon...
1
-I believe that reading books and writing letters will be the next great craze, sweeping aside the superficiality of sites such as facebook.
10
Alison Arieff wrote a great column last year sometime for the Times about how tech geniuses in Silicon Valley aren't inventing things that matter — it's all games and fantasy. When I heard the NPR report this morning on Zuckerberg's talk and all the virtual reality pretend things that Facebook is investing billions in (made off the free content we provide) it was kind of revolting. I'm glad I still know how to make some things by hand, however primitive and trite they may seem to Facebook brogrammers.
5
Yes Alison, there is a high cost to allowing Facebook to copy things using their monopoly to dominate. NPR report depressed me too.
FACEBOOK AND THE COST OF MONOPOLY
https://stratechery.com/2017/facebook-and-the-cost-of-monopoly/
FACEBOOK AND THE COST OF MONOPOLY
https://stratechery.com/2017/facebook-and-the-cost-of-monopoly/
People are lazy. The work my mom put in to understanding fb now has her engaged and she won't change. It's turtles all the way down. Generation and social media apps...all the way down.
"To which I say: Meh. "
No one above the age of 13 should ever start a sentence with "Meh"
"The world is big; it can coexist with Facebook."
The world is NOT that big. It can exist without Facebook. Fixed that for you.
No one above the age of 13 should ever start a sentence with "Meh"
"The world is big; it can coexist with Facebook."
The world is NOT that big. It can exist without Facebook. Fixed that for you.
1
None of the teens I know use FB. I see a many people dropping out. the real growth is in the developing world, but that will end once the market is saturated there as well. I give it about 5 years before you see the inevitable decline.
2
right...rainbow vomit == innovation
In the cutthroat world of social networking sites, "size" is actually less important than how "sticky" the features are. For example, Google search has more users than Facebook, but people spend considerably more time on Facebook.
The real secret to Facebook's success is that some of their most "boring" features are incredibly sticky. For too many people, Facebook is the *only* way to organize events or groups; and that makes leaving the service impossible for some.
The real secret to Facebook's success is that some of their most "boring" features are incredibly sticky. For too many people, Facebook is the *only* way to organize events or groups; and that makes leaving the service impossible for some.
4
Great piece! I've been reading you for a few years now. I think you're even better than David Pogue.
2
Facebook has some good features, but it is problematic. I deactivated 2 years ago, and have never been happier.
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ravi-chandra-deactivate-facebook-huma...
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ravi-chandra-deactivate-facebook-huma...
7
There is a difference between getting inspired by something and straight out copying. Sounds like Farhad is trying to justify blatant copying.
1
I recall a world where people actually had conversations with those near them, even strangers , and certainly with friends and family.
Now everyone is buried in their phone, at work and play and in a cafe or the family home.
Congratulations Mark, you have destroyed the world we once knew, there is nothing to Like there.
Now everyone is buried in their phone, at work and play and in a cafe or the family home.
Congratulations Mark, you have destroyed the world we once knew, there is nothing to Like there.
6
Personally, after 35 years of computers and 10 years of smart phone usage I am so done with this stuff. Not many people are going to be remembered for having been good with computers. I hope not to be one of them.
9
The fundamental flaw embedded within Facebook and other corporate-owned "social media networks" is that the extractive for-profit motive has incentivized the use of highly-sophisticated psychographical (group and individual) dossiers being used to develop algorithms meant to "hook" people into logging on to these networks for as long as humanly possible.
This "feature" of corporate-owned social media ends up negating (or canceling) ANY benefit for users, as it means that people are being subjected to a high degree of psychological manipulation; manipulation that leads to excessive "screen time," to obsessive behavior, narcissism, accidents, neglect of personal (face-to-face) relationships, and a host of other (social and health) negative effects.
Although it now appears that Facebook and other corporate-owned social media networks are unstoppable, I argue that at some point the negative (psychological, and societal) consequences of this exploitation are going to be so obvious, that people are going to become more conscious of the manipulation. And at that point (a sort of awakening), people will leave in droves.
The alternative? Non-profit, community-owned, based, and controlled networks designed with the expressed purpose of rejecting any kind of psychological manipulation and exploitation.
I argue that it is a matter of time before this starts happening.
This "feature" of corporate-owned social media ends up negating (or canceling) ANY benefit for users, as it means that people are being subjected to a high degree of psychological manipulation; manipulation that leads to excessive "screen time," to obsessive behavior, narcissism, accidents, neglect of personal (face-to-face) relationships, and a host of other (social and health) negative effects.
Although it now appears that Facebook and other corporate-owned social media networks are unstoppable, I argue that at some point the negative (psychological, and societal) consequences of this exploitation are going to be so obvious, that people are going to become more conscious of the manipulation. And at that point (a sort of awakening), people will leave in droves.
The alternative? Non-profit, community-owned, based, and controlled networks designed with the expressed purpose of rejecting any kind of psychological manipulation and exploitation.
I argue that it is a matter of time before this starts happening.
18
@Luis
"...as it means that people are being subjected to a high degree of psychological manipulation..."
You mean, lie say, religion?
Or public schools?
Or advertising?
Or politicians?
Why pick on Facebook, when apparently human beings love to be psychologically manipulated left and right, all the time?
"...as it means that people are being subjected to a high degree of psychological manipulation..."
You mean, lie say, religion?
Or public schools?
Or advertising?
Or politicians?
Why pick on Facebook, when apparently human beings love to be psychologically manipulated left and right, all the time?
I quit all social media in 2011. My happiness has increased exponentially each day since...
15
The dirty secret is that there was never anything inherently groundbreaking or special about Facebook, and Zuckerberg isn't a visionary of our time. The same goes for nearly all tech bazillionaries that the Times likes to cover as part of its "great person" view of history and the zeitgeist.
All of these people are just folks who got supremely lucky that their brand of social network was peaking just at the right time to ride the wave when the internet went mainstream and the network effect locked in. They don't have any "secret sauce." If it wasn't Zuckerberg with Facebook (or for that matter, the Reddit guys with Reddit), it would have inevitably been somebody else with another social network and their own Aaron Sorkin flick.
By looking at the dollar signs by these people's names and inferring secret genius, The Times is just peddling the same sort of prosperity theology as the most corrupt televangelism ministry.
All of these people are just folks who got supremely lucky that their brand of social network was peaking just at the right time to ride the wave when the internet went mainstream and the network effect locked in. They don't have any "secret sauce." If it wasn't Zuckerberg with Facebook (or for that matter, the Reddit guys with Reddit), it would have inevitably been somebody else with another social network and their own Aaron Sorkin flick.
By looking at the dollar signs by these people's names and inferring secret genius, The Times is just peddling the same sort of prosperity theology as the most corrupt televangelism ministry.
21
Perhaps the camera is a carrot on a stick - i.e. stick around Facebook users! Innovation (Zuckerber's original thought or otherwise) won't help Facebook's over-reach regarding it's policies. According to Zuckerberg, it's a free space and a private company, so they have a right to ask for your driver's license. No, you don't.
How about offering paid subscriptions to get basic infomation. Why anyone would voluntarily give Zuckerberg additional personal information about themselves is beyond me. His database would be paradise for an identity thief.
How about offering paid subscriptions to get basic infomation. Why anyone would voluntarily give Zuckerberg additional personal information about themselves is beyond me. His database would be paradise for an identity thief.
2
If you can't patent it, it's not really "yours" to begin with.
3
Facebook is very likely a natural monopoly, like the utilities. The facts on the ground support this hypothesis. For instance, as noted in this article, for Facebook: features don't matter; the biggest network always wins; and small innovative competitors that provide value for customers can easily and routinely be driven out of business. If this hypothesis is correct, they would fall under the conventional antitrust regulations.
22
Social Media is not a utility. Utilities are things people cannot live without. If you cannont live without social media, you're already dead (at least from the neck up.)
4
I'm not saying Facebook is a utility. I'm saying it is a natural monopoly for roughly the same reasons that the utilities are natural monopolies.
6
I would say a Utility is an entity that provides utility, i.e. usefulness. With that in mind I think the service Facebook provides is a modern internet Utility.
The Utilities we think of today - water, gas, electricity - are necessary to live a modern lifestyle, although people did manage to survive and thrive back in the days before these delivery services existed.
Landline telephone service has long been considered a Utility, in that it was deemed necessary for summoning emergency services in a crisis. That need has diminished with the ubiquity of cellphone service and the changing nature of personal communication.
This leads to what I think is the interesting question, which is being argued about by regulatory agencies now, of whether or not internet access itself is a Utility.
I tend to think so, since it is necessary to live a modern lifestyle. I don't think an app in and of itself is a "Utility," but if the service it provides makes the best use of the Utility then maybe in this new era it is.
The Utilities we think of today - water, gas, electricity - are necessary to live a modern lifestyle, although people did manage to survive and thrive back in the days before these delivery services existed.
Landline telephone service has long been considered a Utility, in that it was deemed necessary for summoning emergency services in a crisis. That need has diminished with the ubiquity of cellphone service and the changing nature of personal communication.
This leads to what I think is the interesting question, which is being argued about by regulatory agencies now, of whether or not internet access itself is a Utility.
I tend to think so, since it is necessary to live a modern lifestyle. I don't think an app in and of itself is a "Utility," but if the service it provides makes the best use of the Utility then maybe in this new era it is.
2
I have to say this, Facebook's port or adoption of Skype/Video chat very quickly began to provide a better service than Skype.
1
The Singularity is upon us.
1
Whenever a politician pals with a CEO that happily does or says things like this — http://www.businessinsider.com/well-these-new-zuckerberg-ims-wont-help-f... — vote them out.
Looking at YOU, Booker.
Looking at YOU, Booker.
This shows the author has no idea of the history of so called "innovations".
IBM created the first smartphone called Simon 15 years prior to Apple's iPhone.
http://www.businessinsider.com/worlds-first-smartphone-simon-launched-be...
IBM created the first smartphone called Simon 15 years prior to Apple's iPhone.
http://www.businessinsider.com/worlds-first-smartphone-simon-launched-be...
1
You forgot Zuckerberg's most basic crime, ripping off the entire Facebook concept from the Winklevoss twins! Behind every great fortune...
9
There are different kinds of copying. FB copycatting SNAP's features is akin to making fake products that the Chinese counterfeiters are good at. The fake products, no matter how dressed up they are, are never as good or as real as the real ones. Users of FB's copycatting features, like buyers of fake products, know that they are using fake or copycatting features. And this in the long run does not bode well for FB.
1
Why couldn't the copycat's product be better? There's no reason why it can't be.
1
The value placed on all these apps is ridiculous. All they do is feed neurotic behaviour and give people something to do other than 'real life' - who cares. You want value? Put down your device right now and talk to the nearest human.
13
A great point! And isn't Facebook responsible to some degree for these horrific murders and beatings broadcast on the grotesque "Facebook Live"? When will America wake up and see that social media rots the soul!???
2
When Betty White hosted Saturday Night Live (an achievement, ironically, made possible by social media), she made a comment in her monologue which I still find to be one of the definitive observations on the topic: "We didn't have Facebook, we had Phone Book, but we didn't think to spend all day with it."
19
Small correction: IBM and Intel created the new model for the PC industry, which was legally cloned off of their products. What Microsoft did with its illegal restraints of trade was to siphon off an outsized share of the new industry's profits (while slowing its functioning down to a crawl with Windows).
2
The inability of innovative interfaces to be protected by patent is the root of this. Since the days when Steve Jobs took the main ideas for a graphical UI from Xerox, this piracy has been allowed. It is unlikely to stop now.
If you make innovative hardware, you stand a chance at patent protection. But if it's software, you can just forget it.
(Note Apple has been on the losing side of this as well - not for nothing the ipPhone is called "the blueprint" in the mobile phone industry.)
If you make innovative hardware, you stand a chance at patent protection. But if it's software, you can just forget it.
(Note Apple has been on the losing side of this as well - not for nothing the ipPhone is called "the blueprint" in the mobile phone industry.)
1
Point of clarification: Jobs & company did not "take" anything from PARC. Xerox shared their intellectual property with Apple as part of a venture capital transaction between the two.
Xerox in turn 'stole' the mouse and cursor GUI from Douglas Engelbart. It looks to me like the copycatting has been mostly beneficial. The remarkable thing to be is that people are so submissive to people like Jobs, Gates, Zuckerberg, and the rest of their kind -- business predators who create nothing and have often been obstructive. Windows in particular sat on the development of small personal-use computers for 20 years. It's a curious phenomenon. I can do everything with the Linux machine I'm writing this on that anyone can do with a Windows or Mac box, and it's free, but people keep submitting and paying to the predators and phonies. Go figure.
ZUCKERBERG Is a canny entrepreneur, morphing Facebook into a multi-faceted network that combines the best features of his competition. Good for him. So long as it's above board and legal.
1
Ok, I'm an old fart - 68. I wasted years on Facebook. Yeah, it was nice reconnecting with people I haven't seen since grade school. Or high school. Or college. But most of the dialog and nearly all of the shared material wasn't worth the time. Talk about a plethora of fake news and dubious information! The election provided so many opportunities to alienate people who would otherwise be friends. When it was over, I breathed a sigh of relief. Then it got worse. Finally, in late November, I gave up. I deleted the thousands of photos I had uploaded. I unceremoniously closed my account without even saying goodbye. I haven't been back, not even once.
I do miss some of the interaction, but not most of it. I deleted the mobile app months before I left because I got sick of its ever-increasing demands for access to my personal information and its desire to monitor every move I make. Sorry, Zuck, but I just don't want to be invited to share my experience with everyone just because I walked into a restaurant for lunch. And no, I don't want to comment on the food or write a review or see who else I know who might be within a quarter mile radius. And no, you can't have access to my contacts list.
Facebook is nothing more than a fine-tuned data mining machine and advert peddler disguised as a useful website. I'm done with social media. I've got books to read, thank you very much.
I do miss some of the interaction, but not most of it. I deleted the mobile app months before I left because I got sick of its ever-increasing demands for access to my personal information and its desire to monitor every move I make. Sorry, Zuck, but I just don't want to be invited to share my experience with everyone just because I walked into a restaurant for lunch. And no, I don't want to comment on the food or write a review or see who else I know who might be within a quarter mile radius. And no, you can't have access to my contacts list.
Facebook is nothing more than a fine-tuned data mining machine and advert peddler disguised as a useful website. I'm done with social media. I've got books to read, thank you very much.
49
I LOVE your comment. Social media addiction is ruining the minds of American children. There's scarier SM apps out there (musically, it's called) that's a haven for child predators. When will these social media platforms be held accountable for the damage they cause?!!
1
You are not alone, Mr. McGrath.
I had an account for two years on Facebook, and quit the minute I saw my photo, unauthorized, on two ads - one for McDonald's and one for some chicken wing place - telling my "friends" that I got my discount! Now they need to get theirs!
Facebook is definitely a fine-tuned data-mining machine that to me looks less and less like anything but that.
I had an account for two years on Facebook, and quit the minute I saw my photo, unauthorized, on two ads - one for McDonald's and one for some chicken wing place - telling my "friends" that I got my discount! Now they need to get theirs!
Facebook is definitely a fine-tuned data-mining machine that to me looks less and less like anything but that.
2
Amen, Bill McGrath. I could not have said it better: "Facebook is a nothing more than fine-tuned data mining machine and advert peddler disguised as a useful website."
In February Mark Zuckerberg posted a 5,000+ manifesto titled "Building Global Community," in which he described how he would answer "the most important question of all: are we building the world we all want?" This article affirms the suspicion that for him the world we all want is Facebook's world.
6
Dear God, If I can escape this life without ever having a Facebook account, I will consider my existence a success.
23
It would be instructive to understand your use of the word networks implies networks of people.
What all FB users need to understand are FB's actual physical networks that are in data centers spread out all over the world. Inside those, the people and their actions, thoughts and everything else they move in and out of all of FB's app platforms are captured and kept far from their control.
Think of it as your digital selves forever imprisoned in worlds you think you have created when, in fact, they were created and disguised to capture you.
You think you're keeping up with friends and family on the surface, when, in reality, all of you have been moved to a digital dungeon for the rest of your lives.
That's the trade off: you exist inside servers in a data center, or, actually many data centers. Your guards are the companies selling you their brands. Oh, and any and every government that wants to access the digital you in order to reach out and control the physical you.
But it's cool, right?
What all FB users need to understand are FB's actual physical networks that are in data centers spread out all over the world. Inside those, the people and their actions, thoughts and everything else they move in and out of all of FB's app platforms are captured and kept far from their control.
Think of it as your digital selves forever imprisoned in worlds you think you have created when, in fact, they were created and disguised to capture you.
You think you're keeping up with friends and family on the surface, when, in reality, all of you have been moved to a digital dungeon for the rest of your lives.
That's the trade off: you exist inside servers in a data center, or, actually many data centers. Your guards are the companies selling you their brands. Oh, and any and every government that wants to access the digital you in order to reach out and control the physical you.
But it's cool, right?
11
This is hardly innovation, it's stealing. Plain and simple.
6
Deleting my Facebook account over five years ago was one of the best days of my life to date.
6
The writer needs a basic course in economics. This is monopoly capitalism, pure and simple.
3
"Instead, Google more or less copied Apple’s software ideas in early versions of Android, and Samsung essentially copied Apple’s hardware." I more or less like this statement. There is always this confusion about what innovation really is. It is not invention.
1
Mr. Farhad Manjoo acts as though "copying" is almost an accepted part of Silicon Valley and life in technology. Regaling us with famous past of examples of Apple and Microsoft building upon the work of others. And it's true, Steve Jobs never advocated any lawsuits, or had any paranoia about Apple's technology secrets. I'm sure Jobs would agree, it's all for the greater economic betterment.
Introduce Mr. Zuckerberg to the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.
Break up Facebook. And while we're at it, break up Amazon.
Fight consolidation of monopoly power on-line.
Break up Facebook. And while we're at it, break up Amazon.
Fight consolidation of monopoly power on-line.
5
Well, King Zuckerberg never had me at hello, and not now or ever.
The first time a friend showed me how Facebook worked -- seven? eight years ago? -- I felt a kind of revulsion. I'm no luddite, I love useful technology, but I couldn't understand why anyone would a) sacrifice their privacy to line someone else's pockets, for b) the privilege of spending hours a day sharing trivia or whines with so-called 'friends.' One (real) friend of mine belongs to a FB group called something like a 365 club, where hundreds of members upload a photo every single day of the year. You do the math.
While I understand FB has been a godsend for the homebound or those with special needs/maladies/disadvantages, most of us do NOT fall into that category. I don't want to know what my friends and our kids are doing every day, or even every week or month, even though they live around the world. In another generation an app will be needed to teach people how to talk to each other again.
For quick comms across the planet, email is good enough for now and for later.
The first time a friend showed me how Facebook worked -- seven? eight years ago? -- I felt a kind of revulsion. I'm no luddite, I love useful technology, but I couldn't understand why anyone would a) sacrifice their privacy to line someone else's pockets, for b) the privilege of spending hours a day sharing trivia or whines with so-called 'friends.' One (real) friend of mine belongs to a FB group called something like a 365 club, where hundreds of members upload a photo every single day of the year. You do the math.
While I understand FB has been a godsend for the homebound or those with special needs/maladies/disadvantages, most of us do NOT fall into that category. I don't want to know what my friends and our kids are doing every day, or even every week or month, even though they live around the world. In another generation an app will be needed to teach people how to talk to each other again.
For quick comms across the planet, email is good enough for now and for later.
8
Several years ago, I was riding the train home. There was a group of adults in their mid 20's talking about friends from college. One asked if they had talked to one of those friends since graduation. He said, well we are friends on Facebook if you want to call that being friends.
I've long since deleted my Facebook account as have many of the people that I know.
I've long since deleted my Facebook account as have many of the people that I know.
1
I'll take the Mafia, any day, thank you. At least they're not sending me countless stupid emails all the time. Twitter, likewise. Come to think of it, DNC as well.
6
Developers just need to hold out. Most everybody is unhappy with FB.
1
I have always valued Facebook for keeping me up to date with distant family and friends, and so I'm one of the millions that looks at it all the time. But it has become so annoying lately because it seems that every other post in my feed now is an ad topped by the caption "so-and-so likes [brand name here)". I am at the point of not even caring enough to sort through all the ads for posts I care about.
6
Once upon a time, an article like this could have been written about IBM or Bell, and the commenters would have chimed in about the virtues of hand calculation or face-to-face conversation. Even this very comment would have had its analog in something snarky about the railway age or the Roman Empire or something. Is this really the best we can do?
6
Or Microsoft
The master of stealing was Bill Gates. His company set the standard, Zuckerberg is only following his example...
To computer scientists the majority of Facebook's innovation is behind the scenes; invisible to their users. Building an app to do something "original" is the easy part. Making it scale to 1 billion users is hard. You have to create entirely new hardware and software architectures.
30
Agreed, those architectures are the true accomplishment. One hopes they will eventually be deployed in the service of something meaningful and worthwhile.
2
Is there anyone of influence who uses Facebook? If so, I have yet to meet him or her.
Seems to be, by design or not, the ideal tool for guaranteeing one's own irrelevance.
Seems to be, by design or not, the ideal tool for guaranteeing one's own irrelevance.
25
Reading about Facebook's upcoming augmented reality app yesterday in the NYT, I couldn't help but wonder How is this helping mankind? What a colossal waste of talent and energy on another activity (like FB) which is essentially a self-centered, narcissistic and complete waste of one's time. What a shame and a waste of a life by these tech giants and their followers.
54
I don't use FB simply that privacy is an issue. Besides I rather call or write an email to friends or relatives to keep in touch. It is more personal and social than FB. In addition, FB becomes too big and too powerful that leaves little room for smaller companies to survive.
4
I've never been a fan of Facebook, or Zuckerberg, but anyone suggesting it's unethical to copy product functionality should review copyright, trademark and patent law. The software industry had been hampered, not helped, by unwarranted lawsuits attempting to prevent the copying of features, many of which are obvious.
The article's point that the real value of a social network is its size is correct, albeit one with great advantage for first movers. Nevertheless, Snap is free to copy that "feature" without any ethical qualms.
The article's point that the real value of a social network is its size is correct, albeit one with great advantage for first movers. Nevertheless, Snap is free to copy that "feature" without any ethical qualms.
2
We left Fakebook months ago, for the umpteenth time, this time for good. And after it's been used to post live homicide and for other hideous violations of criminal code, good riddance. Let the billions of flies settle on that dung (one knows the word I would really use). They do so without me.
8
I wait for the day that it is announced that Facebook is bankrupt. It has always been intellectually and morally bankrupt. People will look back on Facebook in 5 years and marvel at how popular it was.
10
Yes, I see. "Rainbow vomit" in (fake) photography is such an obviously necessary innovation that it's a wonder we have managed to live without it since the invention of the dauguerrotype.
Seriously, I guess I should just stop reading these tech articles and be content watching "Silicon Valley," which is at least intentionally funny.
Seriously, I guess I should just stop reading these tech articles and be content watching "Silicon Valley," which is at least intentionally funny.
4
Lovely article
2
It's only a network for those who participate. I refuse.
Facebook is dead to me. I look forward to the day the world is Facebook-free.
Facebook is dead to me. I look forward to the day the world is Facebook-free.
40
Earlier this week, my wife and I were watching the morning news as we prepared to begin our day -
One of the major stories was the "Facebook Murder" -- but the focus of the conversation was less about the crime itself - and much more about the fallout-effect it was having on Facebook --
As the commentators were offering their opinions in all earnest seriousness - I began to say a sentence out loud -
"When social scientists and scholars a hundred years from now look back on this..."
Which my wife then jumped in and completed --
"...They'll say what a bunch or morons we were."
After that - there was nothing much left to say...
One of the major stories was the "Facebook Murder" -- but the focus of the conversation was less about the crime itself - and much more about the fallout-effect it was having on Facebook --
As the commentators were offering their opinions in all earnest seriousness - I began to say a sentence out loud -
"When social scientists and scholars a hundred years from now look back on this..."
Which my wife then jumped in and completed --
"...They'll say what a bunch or morons we were."
After that - there was nothing much left to say...
25
Brilliant writing, Mr. Manjoo. As I read this piece I was thinking that if you rob someone's home, you get put in prison, but if you rob someone's company, you get put on the Forbes list.
22
Where is the *there*? Did Sprint copy Verizon; copy A T &T or AllState Insurance copy Geico-Copy Farmers copy... Yes- it's the Platform- so what?
2
If it were any other company engaging in the behavior that Facebook does, my progressive friends would refuse to do business with it because of their TOS, lack of support for an open web, war on privacy, willingness to be a tool of oppressive governments etc.
But then, I'm one of those guys who finds Facebook to be a waste of time.
But then, I'm one of those guys who finds Facebook to be a waste of time.
20
Everyone I know who is on Facebook says that it is how they stay in touch, promote their personal "brands" and (always) seek a multitude of ways to engage in one-upmanship.
I think it is a lame application that is a digital high school owned and run by Zuckerberg and his clique. Need additional evidence? Look at Zuckerberg, richer than the dreams of avarice, but he wears a tee-shirt like he just stepped out of home room.
So I wait for it to go away, just as I waited for years to get to the day when I did not have to see anything about Sarah Palin, just as I now wait for the day when I will never have to read the name Trump again.
It will be a long wait to be sure, but worth it. Take a deep breath, exhale slowly... and over, and over.
I think it is a lame application that is a digital high school owned and run by Zuckerberg and his clique. Need additional evidence? Look at Zuckerberg, richer than the dreams of avarice, but he wears a tee-shirt like he just stepped out of home room.
So I wait for it to go away, just as I waited for years to get to the day when I did not have to see anything about Sarah Palin, just as I now wait for the day when I will never have to read the name Trump again.
It will be a long wait to be sure, but worth it. Take a deep breath, exhale slowly... and over, and over.
34
I'll take 2 of those lame applications please! There is not a breath deep enough. That is like trying to wait for Fox News to disappear. Facebook is not going anywhere. It acts like a history book for most people and a diary. You don't let that go. Two types of internet people - those who are "out there" and don't mind losing some privacy and those that are terrified of being "found" and subjected to scrutiny by the masses. Fly under the radar if you like...no one cares. It's a personal choice. You can make Facebook super private anyway...but what fun is that?
1
Wondering: Would it be possible for Facebook to imbed a unique code into every upload to identify it to bots that could search for it throughout its network to erase any abhorrent upload wherever it may appear? This could give Facebook a timely means by which to remove abhorrent speech, videos, and pictures, such as those that depict crimes and assaults on the reputation and privacy of individuals. If it is possible to remove any posting, there would need to be a sensible process and some oversight of Facebook to determine that erasures would not be an infringements of free speech.
Real good to check the map from time to time to see where we are and where we may be going. Really nice recap. This all could be some of the most important history happening. Embryonic Humanity quickening in its Earth womb. In history books 200 years ahead who and what will be more mentioned: the deals and doings of Putin, Trump, and Erdogan or the deals and doings of Gates, Jobs, and Zuckerberg. What do you think? Your neat recap so helps.
1
Life is so sweet with the actual physical company of dear friends, or a conversation on the phone (try it), walks in nature where one can slow way down and breathe, rambling through an urban neighborhood with head up so as to catch another's eye and smile and nod hello, stop for a quick real chat with an older person in a shop or a five year old who wants to try out her new-found independence.
Seeing, being, talking, listening, experiencing.
Enjoying being alive.
With the best invention that ever was.
Our bodies and brains - connecting me to you in actual reality.
Zuckerberg can't get his hands on me.
Seeing, being, talking, listening, experiencing.
Enjoying being alive.
With the best invention that ever was.
Our bodies and brains - connecting me to you in actual reality.
Zuckerberg can't get his hands on me.
67
Sorry. You lost all the under 50 viewers by the second sentence - they fell asleep.
The under 30, didn't even get past the first workd- no pictures or video, no bother.
The under 30, didn't even get past the first workd- no pictures or video, no bother.
Maybe he can't get his hands directly on you, but he can get his hands on more than enough Facebook followers to change the "actual reality" you speak of. You'll be asking yourself where have all my friends, neigbors, children, and acquaintance gone as the Aps swallow them up.
And this is todays' morality.
8
This is American capitalism. Zuckerberg is considering a run for the presidency... and because we celebrate "winning" it's not hard to see why.
3
Also, all the examples described here at least iterated on the previous ideas; there are different types of innovations than brand new tech ideas. Take Microsoft, they creaticely innovated on the business side, leading to their initial domination. While Facebook failed time and again to increase user engagement, they had to copy Snapchat's features because they couldn't innovate and for once they couldn't buy them either.
More than all this, we should be paying attention to the ethics of using behavioral science to increase engagement and business opportunities. The book, Hooked, is widely praised in Silicon Valley as the best way to increase user engagement. But Hook is actually a recipe to hijack human biological processes and make them physiologically addicted to our products, usually without them knowing. All in the name of making a buck by mining people for their attention.
I'm not saying tech or social media are inherently bad. But I think the industry has matured enough for us to start demanding better ethics from these tech giants, instead of being content with the way it's always done.