If users generally dislike facebook, but continue to use it, it's a bad situation to be in for Facebook. It indicates that people are using the product because of its network effects and despite the product itself.
It means that if anything begins to actually challenge the network effect of facebook, they will be in a very tough spot.
A telling moment that happened two nights ago for me. A friend from ~8 years ago came to visit and we wanted to send a joking message out to a few people from the old group of friends we used to hang out with.
The conversation was literally:
A: "Post it to Facebook and tag everyone."
B: "Ehhh. It would be funnier to find an old email thread and reply to it."
We went with B. It seemed like a better idea, plus we weren't sure if folks in the group checked Facebook. But everyone reads email -- and sure enough, we got life updates from the whole gang within 12 hours.
Yeah, because of its age, ubiquity, relative lack of growth etc I think people don't consider email along with the emerging sexy social networking platforms. I tend to use it in preference to Facebook if I'm communicating with specific people. I would not use it for sending everybody I know amusing pictures of cats.
> It indicates that people are using the product because of its network effects and despite the product itself.
It could mean a lot of things. Maybe it means it's cool to say you dislike FB. Maybe it means people feel badly about their addiction to social networks in general. My point is that it could mean a million things that may very well have nothing to do with FB.
Furthermore, what you're describing sounds to me like the best situation for any company to be in. Ever. You make something that is so compelling and you solve a certain problem so well that people tolerate it despite its deficiencies.
> You make something that is so compelling and you solve a certain problem so well that people tolerate it despite its deficiencies.
That's the opposite of what I'm describing. I'm describing making something that people don't find compelling, that doesn't solve their problems, but they use it because it's their only option (the network effect).
I'd liken this to the position Microsoft held in the late 90s and early 2000s. Most people had an active dislike for MS, and undoubtedly helped the meteoric rise of Apple as the MS-alternative.
FaceBook already has had companies brand themselves as the anti-FaceBook.
They made mention of WatchKit in the keynote. It sure looked like there were third party apps on the devices demoed. (I think I saw a Path logo). It's not clear if these apps are sort of accessories that can be embedded in iOS Apps or watch specific apps.
Reading between the lines the impression I got is that the WatchKit API will let you define widgets that come with your app and that will be downloaded to the watch when the App is installed on the iPhone.
I think this shows there is an ecosystem- it's the App ecosystem and it's the most vibrant one out there. But it's not exactly the same (which may be the cause of the parents confusion)
Nope, small companies that don't think about growth while they have the time, cement bad practice.
"Run your small business as if it were a large business" is more about conscious decision-making and awareness of consequence. Do your admin, make sure payroll is documented and people are paid on time, make sure that managers pay attention to work-load and communication, develop work practices that support people rather than assuming everyone is committed to 24-hour days ... sweat the small stuff so that your employees can get on with the thing you hired them for without concern.
It's all those assumptions that get small businesses as they scale. And then - if they survive - they become horrible, impersonal large businesses.
A small business is like a small child. All the potential is there, but surround that child with all the clutter of a poor environment and it will become an adult that perpetuates the system it was raised in.
"Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man," said the Jesuits. They knew what they were talking about ;)
Has there been discussion of passing this fee on to customers who access from Comcast in the form of a surcharge? If Netflix hiked prices for customers who were connecting from Comcast networks, it would encourage news of this business practice to spread.
* Appfolio is looking for great full-stack engineers to deliver products customers love using Ruby, Rails, Javascript, Coffeescript, MySQL, CSS3, and HTML5. Currently hiring for Software Engineer, Senior Software Engineer and Principal Software Engineer *
We have small, high caliber teams developing easy-to-use solutions for our customers, and are looking for experienced level Software Engineers to continue our rapid growth pace. If you enjoy building from back-end to client–side in an environment that values shared responsibility and continuous learning, apply today.
Responsibilities:
● Develop scalable, robust, and simple web-based solutions to solve complex business problems
● Formulate, implement, and evaluate algorithms and database queries to support SaaS scalability and stability.
● Implement new features and optimize existing ones to drive maximum performance
● Research/share/recommend new technologies and trends
Knowledge and Skills:
● BS, MS, or Ph.D in Computer Science or related technical discipline
● 5+ years experience developing web-based applications, preferably in a SaaS environment
● Web development experience with proficiency in a modern programing language (Ruby experience highly desired)
● Creativity, ability to solve complex problems without a roadmap
● Experience working across all levels of the development stack preferred
● Experience with Agile/Scrum software development processes preferred
If users generally dislike facebook, but continue to use it, it's a bad situation to be in for Facebook. It indicates that people are using the product because of its network effects and despite the product itself.
It means that if anything begins to actually challenge the network effect of facebook, they will be in a very tough spot.