Facebook vs AirBnB/Uber

[August1991]

For Google Ventures, Alphabet’s birth was a relief. Since its inception in 2009, the early-stage fund has argued that it operates only to generate hefty returns, not as a strategic arm of Google, its sole capital source. Being a standalone company helps make that case easier.

Google Ventures may soon make another case — one to Alphabet’s investors — that its new division, full of cost sinkholes, can turn profits. Those would come from its lucrative investment windfalls to come.

Link

I have always viewed Facebook as a version of *.blogspot.com or at its simplest level, a phonebook. And let's be honest: Facebook is just a yellow pages for everyone.

With Uber/AirBnB, OTOH, an individual has an incentive to tell the "truth" - let's call it an unlisted phone number. I reckon that's the weird next future of "social media" - or what my grandmother referred to as a telephone.

Edited May 26, 2016 by Charles Anthony
fixed mal-formed [quote]

[BC_chick]

Facebook has a lot of privacy settings. You can make it as public or as private as you want.

It's not at all like yellow pages.

[August1991]

Facebook has a lot of privacy settings. You can make it as public or as private as you want.

It's not at all like yellow pages.

Thinking again, Facebook is worse than the yellow pages. With the yellow pages, at least popular users had the money to buy a full page ad.

With Uber/AirBnB, users have a reason to tell the truth.

[Bryan]

You'd be amazed how easy it is to be "on" Facebook for the purposes of joining a specific group discussion, yet still very much not be on Facebook for the purposes of anyone outside that group being able to find you. On the flip side, you absolutely can pay to get yourself promoted on Facebook too, so that you'll show up in people's recommended lists on the sidebar, and so that your posts will show up in their feeds more often.

[Bonam]

Link

I have always viewed Facebook as a version of *.blogspot.com or at its simplest level, a phonebook. And let's be honest: Facebook is just a yellow pages for everyone.

Have you ever been on Facebook?

[August1991]

Have you ever been on Facebook?

Have you ever used Uber or AirBnB?

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Bonam, I'm not saying that Uber/AirBnB are the final statement in "social media".

Edited May 26, 2016 by August1991

[Bonam]

Have you ever used Uber or AirBnB?

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Bonam, I'm not saying that Uber/AirBnB are the final statement in "social media".

Yes, I've used both.

And Uber/AirBnB are "sharing economy" not "social media".

[Boges]

Google is the new phonebook, Not Facebook.

Facebook is an avenue to see what people you're loosely and/or intimately connected to are doing and arguing with people.

[August1991]

Google is the new phonebook, Not Facebook.

Facebook is an avenue to see what people you're loosely and/or intimately connected to are doing and arguing with people.

On the contrary, Facebook is just a phonebook (or rather the Yellow pages) with the ability to create varying degrees of unlisted numbers. It's an asymmetrical relationship.

With Facebook (like the Yellow Pages/unlisted numbers), you can declare your presence or hide yourself.

In the old days, if you had money and wanted to make your presence known, you could buy a full page ad in the Yellow Pages, or even choose to buy an end cover on the Yellow Pages book. (Just like classified ads.) If you wanted to be secretive, you could request an unlisted telephone number.

Whatever your choice, a customer/user/friend only knew/suspected that you had money or wanted to hide. With Facebook, that's more or less the same. It's a one-sided relationship. You to the world.

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With Uber & AirBnB, users on both side of the relationship have an incentive to tell the truth. It's not assymetrical.

And Uber/AirBnB are "sharing economy" not "social media".

Key point. Thanks Bonam, I didn't know this terminology.

In the "social media", individuals can lie. In the "sharing economy", individuals have an incentive to tell the truth.

Edited May 28, 2016 by August1991

[Arkstone]

The news depends on which groups you are subscribed to on Facebook

[Matarael]

Facebook is much better, as you can find any things you are interested in. If I'm interested in something, I can always find it on Facebook, starting with news and ending with clothes. Of course, I often come across ads, but I'm always offered interesting things. Six months ago, I decided to create a Facebook group where I post various funny videos. My group consisted of several people and I decided to order an ad on https://aiad.com.au/services/facebook-advertising/. Thanks to advertising, 30-50 people subscribed to my group every day, so I was able to gain a fairly large audience in a month.

Edited March 18, 2021 by Matarael