Fully agree about Fb the brand being dead. That's a stink that's not coming off. I think the business has good prospects. They're just learning how to monitize Ig and haven't begun to wring cash out of Whatsapp.
Does anyone really think though that Fb the company has what it takes to produce another world beating product? Call me pessimistic, but their best shot is buying up innovative companies and not strangling the cool out of them (ie Oculus)
Oculus at least was a strategic acquisition for whatever this metaverse product is going to end up being. If job listings are any indication, they are sinking a ton of money into VR research and devices. Something big is in the works. Given their stated goal of pivoting to the metaverse, I think their long-term goal is to make a ready-player-one style full virtual world, and Oculus and related products and technologies are gonna be a big part of that
As far as the ordinary user is concerned, there is no stink at all. People are not as aware of FBs negative impact or scandals to the degree that the average HN user is.
It's gone mainstream. Even the most ordinary user watches cable news. My close relations are as out of touch as it gets, and even they hold their noses when they use Fb now.
The libra fiasco should make anyone wonder if Fb is going to be able to sell the public on a big new project. At this point it feels like users tolerate Fb purely due to the network effects they have.
Does anyone really think though that Fb the company has what it takes to produce another world beating product? Call me pessimistic, but their best shot is buying up innovative companies and not strangling the cool out of them (ie Oculus)