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Re:Facebook's timeline just shows random things for some users by altdataseller on Wednesday August 24, 2022 @08:57AM (#32578832)
If a $500b company with a product used by 1/3 of the human population isnt a success, i dont know what is.

As for whether its beneficial to society is another question.

Re:Facebook's timeline just shows random things for some users by tablespoon on Wednesday August 24, 2022 @09:31AM (#32579208)
> If a $500b company with a product used by 1/3 of the human population isnt a success, i dont know what is.

It's not exactly a success (except from the most selfish and financial perspectives), it's more like proof you can abuse your users and get away with it.

Re:Facebook's timeline just shows random things for some users by xeromal on Wednesday August 24, 2022 @10:11AM (#32579698)
This take reduces the idea too much. If everyone was just "Abused", they'd stop using it. Clearly, many people see benefit despite the abuses.

I used facebook messenger to keep in touch with my family across the world. My family is incapable of using signal, whatsapp, sms, email, telegram, phone calls, or anything else.

I also use facebook to buy stuff on the classifieds. It's like craigslist except there's at least a picture of someone and a paper trail if they decide to murder me.

My neighborhood organizes events using a facebook group and we've been able to have festivals and organize groups to go fight against companies that want to industrialize the area.

Facebook is trash at what it was initially built to be, but it is still very useful.

Re:Facebook's timeline just shows random things for some users by sosull on Wednesday August 24, 2022 @09:36AM (#32579265)
But the point is about the quality of the product, not the financial size or userbase of the company. Isn't it possible to have the (impressive) attribute of size while simultaneously making a bad product?

What about Myspace? $800m in revenue from 115m users. The classic 'good product' story, right?

Re:Facebook's timeline just shows random things for some users by devbot9 on Wednesday August 24, 2022 @03:04PM (#32584201)
People that are calling it a failure because of quality are missing the point.

Facebook makes its money by leaving the feed an unorganized mess of random posts, leaving the user disoriented so that more eyeball time can be harvested for advertisements while the user searches for the content they want (or gets stuck mindlessly scrolling the infinite reel of videos and other content for that dopamine hit).

It's not lost on the army of six figure salaried engineers that a lot could be done easily to make the experience better. But that isn't in the interest of the shareholders. The quality is a feature, not a bug.

Re:Facebook's timeline just shows random things for some users by altdataseller on Wednesday August 24, 2022 @02:50PM (#32584025)
It's used regularly by over 1/3 of the human population. I think that by itself tells you it's an useful product. It might have some flaws (as do many other products), but it seems the vast majority of users overlook those flaws. I'm definitely not a regular FB user, and even hate it, but I can't deny many many people find it useful in their daily lives, flaws and all.