Facebook won already in like 2012 or something. What was before that - MySpace? - it just sucked compared to Facebook. Terrible UI. Completely useless, siloed without the "real name" policy.
Facebook was a genuine innovation, both in terms of UI, and in terms of marketing (targeting elite schools first was genius, but hardly non-competitive, anyone could have done it).
I feel like you are fundamentally misunderstanding their entire business model here. The fact that they happened to have popular products is somewhat secondary.
They both got to the size that they got by data mining PII and selling it to the highest bidder in various forms.
Every product requires that people want it. Genuine is a definition up for debate.
Yes, they were better than the competition. Especially Google Search (I remember Altavista et al). However the major innovation is that the user is is the product. (sidenote: ever had to contact Google customer support while being the product?)
If Zuckerberg started Facebook on Technische Universiteit Eindhoven (TUE) today he would need to abide by GDPR. Means he can't just start a student DB without consent.
>If Zuckerberg started Facebook on Technische Universiteit Eindhoven (TUE) today he would need to abide by GDPR. Means he can't just start a student DB without consent.
What you really mean is that Zuckerberg would not have started Facebook if he would've been in Europe today. Would the world have been better off? Facebook does seem to offer quite a lot of value to millions of people.
The two of us are unable to reach consensus on genuine offering value versus the importance of business ethics. I believe we can better cease this discussion.
They created monopolies by buying up potential competitors. They are case studies in the success of M&A. American regulators and politicians turned a blind eye (and continue to beyond lip service) because of their international dominance.
