

Ask YC: What Do you Want out of Facebook? - iamdave

In another thread I made the comment that I saw absolutely no value in Facebook.  I should clarify that statement before the floor is opened for comments:<p>I see no monetary value in Facebook because Helxis made a very true statement: I don't want my friendships monetized, someone else profiting because I interact with people I care about is a sickeningly greedy idea to me (read: to me, if you disagree share with us).<p>From where I stand (somewhat of a purist when it comes to how business affects people), Facebook is changing for the worst.  Partnering up with tons of ad providers, and most notably Microsoft, I have a very hard time believing Facebook can't raise a dime for it's own end.  More and more features are coming along that almost seem to separate people:<p>Biggest example of this was the redesign.  Some were for it, many more were against it and while I remain on the side of "pro redesign", I think this proves that Facebook is growing more detached from it's users.  Over a million people petitioned to bring back the old design; sure it was probably difficult to maintain but those are things you fix, things you work on.  How can we keep the old design, or at least build it from the ground up and make it more user friendly and developmentally efficient?<p>I'm of the opinion that Facebook is growing detached from it's users and is just looking for a buck right now before they become irrelevant entirely.  While it's expected that the entire purpose of business is to make money, this is coming entirely too much at the expense of user satisfaction.<p>I'll wrap it up to ask you: What do you want out of Facebook?  Me?  I want more user-centric integrity.
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trickjarrett
Your stance is quite interesting, by my understanding you shouldn't like
sending mail, making phone calls, sending text messages, or using the Internet
either for the cost of postage, bandwidth, SMS fees, etc as that is the
government or corporation profiting from your relationships.

I use Facebook for the relationships. It allows me to remain in touch with
friends from highschool, college, past jobs, and other social groups I am a
part of.

Could I do this outside of Facebook? Yes but it would require a lot more work
on my part to keep in tangential contact with my hundreds of friends.

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iamdave
"sending mail, making phone calls, sending text messages, or using the
Internet"

The difference between these things and Facebook is that the latter is a tool
of convenience. The others (with the exception of texting) are matters of
necessity to contact people. Could a person go completely without post mail,
cell phones or email? Sure if they choose to live completely off the grid and
live off the fat of the land (like my father does). Could they go without if
they plan on keeping in touch with people? Not without a couple hundred homing
pigeons.

But Facebook is just a convenient tool that centralizes a lot of those
services; and like I said I understand the point of business (make a buck) but
I think Facebook can find a way that doesn't destroy user satisfaction.

~~~
trickjarrett
Phones used to be an item of convenience too. So did post. Social networks are
too new to be considered a staple but for many of my generation they're a
major tool of life.

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indigoviolet
"I see no monetary value in Facebook because Helxis made a very true
statement: I don't want my friendships monetized, someone else profiting
because I interact with people I care about is a sickeningly greedy idea to me
(read: to me, if you disagree share with us)."

I disagree with this. Facebook provides you with the functionality to interact
with your friends that you wouldn't get elsewhere (unless you
s/Facebook/OtherSocialNetwork/), and it's ridiculous to expect them to do it
for nothing. As long as the monetization is not detrimental to you, doesn't
invade your privacy, and is actually perhaps useful to you (read: well
targeted advertising), you shouldn't care. You don't get all angry at TV for
showing you ads between shows; you may find a means to avoid looking at them,
but it doesn't outrage you.

Facebook has a 120 million _active_ users. A million of them petitioned. That
isn't even 1%. No effort of that size can afford to attempt to please
everyone.

~~~
trickjarrett
As the adage says, the quickest way to fail is to attempt to please everyone.

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DanielBMarkham
I want to own and access my data any way I feel like without FaceBook getting
in the way.

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ram1024
it's a service. it either has to be paid for, or it has to generate revenue
through other channels (read: selling ads).

as it stands now with it being free, it has no obligation to cater to its
community in any way. i say, don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

