

Features everyone must borrow from Facebook - Void_
http://codingwithlove.com/thoughts/3-features-everyone-must-borrow-from-facebook

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henrikschroder
Uhm, why mention Facebook if you don't list three features that are unique to
Facebook or were pioneered by them? Seriously, invites, notifications and
comments are hardly new concepts. They're good concepts, but they have nothing
to do with Facebook.

If you want to mention something that was pioneered by Facebook and that you
should copy, then it's the use of real names instead of usernames or handles.
This feature is what allowed people to connect with each other over Facebook
when having no other communication channel, i.e. reconnecting with old friends
or classmates.

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codingthewheel
Very true and Facebook didn't pioneer the use of real names, either. Not by a
long shot. Come to think of it, I can't think of a single feature Facebook
truly, actually _pioneered_ \-- I can think of a great many they
_popularized_.

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SteveC
Comments could backfire on you. What if you have paying subscribers who start
recommending your competitors or free/cheaper alternatives to other paying
customers. How do you deal with that. Deleting the comments risks alienating
customers. Removing the comments feature would annoy all the customers who now
enjoy it. Doing nothing will mean you're effectively giving free advertising
to competitors.

~~~
LoonyPandora
Make sure your product is better than your competitor's. You shouldn't be
scared of a customer doing a fair comparison of your product against someone
else's.

