Have Facebook/Instagram gradually deviated from its original purpose?

Felipe9z

Felipe9z

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Facebook/Instagram have drifted away from its original purpose as social media platforms. Why haven’t they been replaced yet by a more user-focused platform?
 
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Felipe9z said:
Facebook/Instagram have drifted away from its original purpose as social media platforms. Why haven’t they been replaced yet by a more user-focused platform?
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The problem isn’t really building a better platform. It’s getting millions of users to move there at the same time. The network effect is what keeps platforms like Facebook and Instagram so difficult to replace.
 
For you, what criteria are considered user-centric?
Felipe9z said:
Facebook/Instagram have drifted away from its original purpose as social media platforms. Why haven’t they been replaced yet by a more user-focused platform?
Click to expand...
 
But don't such platforms already exist? Many countries have their own local social networks—take WeChat, for instance. Beyond Facebook and Instagram, there are plenty of other social networks that share similarities yet differ from one another—just look at LinkedIn, TikTok, or Reddit. As mentioned earlier, user acquisition comes first; the main goal is to make the sale, and then adapt to the users' interests later.
 
It’s all about profit; they will do whatever it takes to grow their user base and keep people using the app longer, and their core values will inevitably have to change.
 
I think they have changed a lot especially with algorithms and ads. But their huge base and network effect make it really hard for a new platform to replace them.
 
I have many friends, relationships, and work here, so it's difficult to change.
 
I think the biggest problem is the network effect. people may dislike how these platforms work now, but their friends, creators, and audiences are already there. a better product alone isn’t enough to make everyone move.
 
I notice a lot of people advertising on Facebook, so that might be why they are constantly optimizing and updating their policies to ensure the best possible environment for users.
 
I find it very unlikely that any platform will replace facebook and IG at the moment. We’ll just have to wait for a creator to come along in the future and achieve a real breakthrough.
 
i think the network effect is the main reason, everyone’s already there so leaving is hard. newer platforms can feel better, but they struggle to get enough users to replace it.
 
I think its mostly because everyone is already there. Even if a better app comes out, people wont move unless their friends and the people they follow move too.
 
Felipe9z said:
Facebook/Instagram have drifted away from its original purpose as social media platforms. Why haven’t they been replaced yet by a more user-focused platform?
Click to expand...
Facebook and IG are both user-focused platforms. The main obstacle for other platforms is to get people sign up on them 1) and 2) collect several trillions of datapoints from these people.
 
i think the biggest reason is simple everyone is already there. a new platform has to rebuild that whole network from scratch.
 
So the real problem isn’t “Can someone build something better?” It’s “Can someone convince billions of people to move together?” That’s the moat.
 
I think they are different now. People still use them to stay in touch, but there is much more content than before. The basic idea is still there.
 
Felipe9z said:
Facebook/Instagram have drifted away from its original purpose as social media platforms. Why haven’t they been replaced yet by a more user-focused platform?
Click to expand...
To be honest i does not believe that they need to be replaced because they simply changed their format. It was still about being social, but the feed has become a combination of entertainment, ads and business at the same tym.
 
Felipe9z said:
Facebook/Instagram have drifted away from its original purpose as social media platforms. Why haven’t they been replaced yet by a more user-focused platform?
Click to expand...
they made that switch from friend networking to pure advertising networks a while back tbh. The network effect is just too big for any new user centric app to steals any volume imo.
 
Felipe9z said:
Facebook/Instagram have drifted away from its original purpose as social media platforms. Why haven’t they been replaced yet by a more user-focused platform?
Click to expand...
It's the creators and users who are using it, and it's on them to decide for what purpose they want to use it. If we discuss replacing them, it's not that easy, as there are billions of people using these platforms who cannot be replaced at once.
 
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