

Ask YC: What "problem" does Facebook solve? - bosshog

I have found it hard to give a great answer to this, "Keeping in touch" seems kinda meh.
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run4yourlives
I think FB did exactly that for the college crowd, and considering that crowd
tends to have many loose connections, it solved a huge need for them -
figuring out what everyone was up to.

Once they launched to the world at large, many people enjoyed connecting with
people that had been in their lives previously like some big high school
reunion. This is still the first thing that attracts a new user to fb.

The problem I see is, without a constant need to stay in touch (i.e. who's
doing what, who's going where this week), it really has no purpose. Once I've
seen what my buddy in grade 2 is up to now, and who my first girlfriend
married, I don't really need to know anything else.

Hence: Applications. FB apps are the solution looking for a problem. In many
cases, the app itself is what people like to use. For instance, scrabulous is
pretty popular with my wife. The problem is that for someone like me, all the
apps do is annoy the hell out of me, and make me less likely to use fb.

I've seen more than a few friends suddenly drop off fb. I suspect the trend to
continue.

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brlewis
After they drop off fb, how do they keep in touch, or do they?

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run4yourlives
If they're my friends, I already have their emails, phone numbers etc.

If they're somebody I knew from my past, they don't. Because outside of a two
minute catch-up when we first discovered each other on fb, we haven't said
anything to each other anyway.

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aflag
Why should it solve any problems? You certainly could find use for it, as lots
of people do, but I don't think it was set up to solve any problems. I think
Orkut made his service just for fun, people started to use it and find uses
for it. And that's how it grew.

Why do you think it solves some problem?

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brlewis
Are you saying it solves the "I could be having more fun now" problem?

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pg
Seeing what your friends are up to.

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brlewis
Do you use it for that purpose, or are you guessing based on what other people
say about why they use it?

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pg
I'm guessing; I don't have a Facebook account.

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smoody
It addresses peoples' need to be "discoverable." Also, like Twitter, blogs,
Yahoo Answers, etc., it satisfies peoples' need to be listened to. And, for
many, it's a good platform for finding people to date and for hookups. IMHO,
it's about human ego.

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bosshog
Some great responses. Thanks

My line of thinking was more from the point of view of "fixing things that are
broken" as a way to create interesting products.

For example, Youtube was fixing the lack of an easy way to share video online.

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japanoid
Remember what Henry Ford said, "If I'd asked people what they wanted, they
would have asked for a better horse."

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wumi
"Facebook is a social utility that connects you with the people around you."

That's exactly what it does

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noodle
it solves the problem of having too much time and not enough diversions while
in college.

seriously.

