

Facebook Tells Parse Developers “No Plans To Change How App Data Is Used” - csmajorfive
http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/27/parse-facebook/

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goronbjorn
The question people keep asking: 'What does this change about whether or not
developers will use Parse?'.

Before being acquired by Facebook, there was a non-trivial probability that
Parse would not be around for the long run. Being backed by a large company
that isn't going away anytime soon makes Parse a viable option for larger
businesses that are more risk averse than smaller startups/developer shops.
Early adopters are great for shaping a product, but the majority of the money
is in those risk averse enterprises. In other words, being acquired by
Facebook hops Parse to the other side of the chasm [1]. There was a similar
effect with Heroku being acquired by Salesforce.

I'm not sure what the long term effects of being associated with Facebook's
brand are going to be, but there generally is a lot of short term vitriol
associated with _anything_ Facebook does that eventually ends up being
inconsequential; if I were Parse, I wouldn't be too concerned, especially when
their actual numbers indicate developers haven't lost faith in them.

[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossing_the_Chasm>

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benatkin
I don't care how long the company will be around. I care how long the product
will be around. I don't think the acquiring company being around increases the
likelihood of the product being around.

~~~
jvrossb
It's case by case and there is no general rule. My hunch is that in this case
it makes decision makers at big companies feel like they'll be around for
longer.

------
ary
> Meanwhile, to calm fears about Facebook spying on Parse developer data, the
> company issued the statement “We currently have no plans to make any changes
> to how Parse app data is used.”

Keyword: currently

So yeah, we all rag on Facebook pretty hard here. What I'm most interested in
is, if the uptick in adoption for Parse is true, why do developers feel more
comfortable now that Facebook owns the product/company? Given the general
pessimism about Facebook's fostering of their own API, and their laughable
advocacy of privacy this whole article smacks of PR.

In my mind the whole modus operandi of companies like Facebook and Google is
to absorb and mine as much information as possible. So if they _aren't_ going
to peek and analyze did they really just buy Parse for the API expertise?

~~~
itsprofitbaron
_"why do developers feel more comfortable now that Facebook owns the
product/company?"_

This happens with the majority of acquisitions that, as soon as they are
acquired they see an uptick in signups. The uptick would be more interesting
if they announced it in a month’s time or in an even longer period of time.
There are several reasons for this including, the perception of “X has
acquired them and they’re a massive company which means that the service will
be around for a while” (which is not necessarily true) and the fact that, the
acquired company gets a lot of press from areas they may previously not have
done so they get new users either as customers or simply joining to ‘look’ at
the service – although they may not become actual valuable users – by those I
mean ‘look’ at the service, I’m talking about other employees of the acquiring
company, shareholders of the acquiring company etc.

~~~
ary
I'll go even further to say that this can probably be attributed to the
Facebook + Parse announcement being the first time many developers ever heard
of Parse.

~~~
dangero
Exactly. I'm in that boat.

I had heard of Parse via Hacker News, but didn't ever pay attention to what
they did. After the news of the purchase I looked at their offering and said,
"This is exactly what I need for my next project."

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jmspring
Is this the same Facebook that would take a handoff approach to Instagram?

The first comment is right, currently being the keyword.

~~~
Timothee
How did Instagram change since the purchase by Facebook? (honest question, I
don't use Instagram at all)

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killwhitey
They dropped Twitter card support so you can no longer preview Instagram
photos on twitter or inside the twitter apps.

~~~
jc4p
That was Twitter, not Instagram, and it was well before twitter cards had an
API. Keep in mind Twitter also removed "find your friends using Twitter"
functionality from Instagram too.

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endianswap
Personally, I'd rather bet on a start-up succeeding than bet against a
publicly-traded corporation shutting down a not-as-profitable
subsidiary/product. In the former case, I know that folks' livelyhoods are
hanging on the line and they're going to try pretty damned hard to keep their
business afloat, whereas I don't have any faith in Facebook keeping Parse
around looking the way it does if it doesn't meet the right numbers.

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josephlord
"No plans to ..." Is the standard non-committal reassurance.

I'm currently investigating migration plans and checking the stability of my
Fast Lists app if I just delete the API key on Parse. I only use Parse for
logging and crash reporting and all access goes through a shim class so that I
can swap and replace at a single point.

I'm trying to pick a good way of crash logging at the moment as I'm fed up of
manually symbolicating. Crashlytics, crittercism and Flurry look nice but I'm
not keen on their privacy policies. Hockey app might do the job but doesn't
look as slick and the initial install instructions aren't completely clear.
I'm also trying to get JIRA and Mobile Connect working although I'm not sure
if that does the symbolisation.

Suggestions welcome.

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m2mapps
What concerns me most is how Facebook may use Parse as a way to consolidate
their place in the mobile app space. Just as they've done in the past with
their SDK, what if Facebook decides to block access to apps that compete with
for example, their messenger, Instagram etc?

Also, who owns the data?

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moeedm
Until, you know ... we change our mind.

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kmfrk
Same thing we were told with Instagram, basically.

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onedev
Instagram really hasn't changed.

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MisterBastahrd
Pretty sure we told the American Indians "we come in peace," too.

~~~
greghinch
Wow, that comparison is a bit of an insensitive stretch.

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BigBalli
aka we haven't decided yet how to best squeeze all the juice.

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OGinparadise
Uh, huh. Nothing will change...until it changes.

