Exactly 10 years ago (April 9th 2012): [0] Facebook Acquires Instagram.

Reaction:

"$1 billion for something literally no one uses."

"In 2 years, nobody will remember what instagram was."

Today (April 13th 2022), it is still alive. Somehow under Zuckerberg.

So just like how the decision for Instagram was also a decision that was something that's going to fail. Yeah, I'm going to really write off Meta again due to a couple of HN comments. /s

We'll see in another 10 years then. (April 13th 2032)

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3817840&p=2

Buying a business is not the same thing as building a business.

In this case Meta has to create a product. They are historically awful at this. FB is just iterating on the initial concept and stealing ideas from other social media platforms. They haven’t done anything novel.

> FB is just iterating on the initial concept and stealing ideas from other social media platforms. They haven’t done anything novel.

Are we looking for 'real businesses' or true scotsmen in tech giants that have built things from absolute scratch without buying companies now?

Perhaps none of these tech giants have done anything novel since they too have bought too many businesses as well. Even if it includes one by definition. Oh dear.

This is an interesting point. Other than various "products" baked into their existing platforms (Reels, Stories, etc.), has Meta successfully launched any new stand-alone product? Genuinely curious, since Instagram, Occulus, WhatsApp, etc. were all purchased not built from scratch.