How Apple can help kill Facebook

[960design]

Hi, I am not very much plugged into what's going on regarding the Apple/Facebook interaction. I only have an extremely intense (borderline psychopathic) disdain for anything social media (Facebook, Instagram, Picturest, Tic Tac, or all that stuff school children and politicians use).

Is there any chance Apple might kill FaceBook like it did with Adobe Flash a decade ago? Or perhaps, just neuter it to the point that people stop having it open in the computer at work, or on their phones at school?

Thanks!

To be fair. Adobe killed Flash due to hubris.
Apple asked for changes, even offered assistance, to make Flash run on mobile ( battery friendly ) devices and Adobe refused.

Facebook is an advertising platform. It will adapt... or it won't.

 

[Hexley]

Apple replacing Facebook/Meta will cause more headaches that profits.

 

[wonderings]

Apple replacing Facebook/Meta will cause more headaches that profits.

Apple does not appear to be taking any steps to do that in my opinion and would be foolish to do so. The amount of policing social media alone these days would make anyone hesitant to jump into that arena.

 

[Hexley]

Apple does not appear to be taking any steps to do that in my opinion and would be foolish to do so. The amount of policing social media alone these days would make anyone hesitant to jump into that arena.

Agree it goes against Apple's business direction.

Apple targets the top 20% of any market they enter.

Facebook/Meta's busienss model is free service to make their account profiles the product of their company

Doing so would destroy their brand equity

 

[TSE]

As a shareholder and believer of Facebook, I sure hope Apple doesn't kill it.

 

[jdclifford]

The dominoes are falling and Zuckerberg is getting cornered:

Starbucks to halt advertising on social media

It will continue to post to social media but not for paid promotions

www.theverge.com

I'd love nothing more than for Apple to accelerate moves to kill off Facebook while they're down.

Ultimately, the biggest move Apple could make in this regard would be to make iMessage and FaceTime cross platform. Maybe withhold some features for the iPhone (i.e. Animoji and Memoji) but having a way to reach everyone with iMessage that is the app Android users confess to wanting the most, would begin to kill of WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.

As for Facebook itself, more obvious sharing features in the Photos app would kill off the need to share photos within Facebook.

Apple News has the potential to fill the role of Facebook's News feed. Enable users to follow their friends in AppleNews like they do with Apple Music, and liked news articles would show up for friends. Maybe iMessage is the way to bring this together in a social feed. Liked Apple News articles, Apple Music playlists, shared Photo albums, etc would appear under a user's profile in iMessage.

Overall, Apple doesn't need to build its own social network, it just needs to introduce social features across iOS. They're not far from this.

Facebook will die when people start living their own lives and get past the overriding need to share everything they do with everyone else in the world. Never used it, never will. Social media is what will kill democracy. Look at the damage it has caused to society already.

 

[ipedro]

Apple replacing Facebook/Meta will cause more headaches that profits.

I'm not suggesting Apple is building a social network to replace Facebook. Instead, they have been introducing social features in iOS and macOS that is limited to people you know, rather than amplifying messages to the world like Facebook, IG, Twitter and other traditional social networks do.

By limiting Facebook's ability to maintain their newsfeed algorithm as a financially sustainable business, I see Apple ridding the world of the worst parts of Facebook that have caused mass disinformation, political instability and preventable deaths during a worldwide pandemic.

Apple doesn't need to police content people share amongst themselves privately any more than they do now with people messaging their friends and family through iMessage, just as long as Apple isn't using an algorithm that reinforces disinformation based on people's recent content consumption and "likes".

 

[Hexley]

I'm not suggesting Apple is building a social network to replace Facebook. Instead, they have been introducing social features in iOS and macOS that is limited to people you know, rather than amplifying messages to the world like Facebook, IG, Twitter and other traditional social networks do.

By limiting Facebook's ability to maintain their newsfeed algorithm as a financially sustainable business, I see Apple ridding the world of the worst parts of Facebook that have caused mass disinformation, political instability and preventable deaths during a worldwide pandemic.

Apple doesn't need to police content people share amongst themselves privately any more than they do now with people messaging their friends and family through iMessage, just as long as Apple isn't using an algorithm that reinforces disinformation based on people's recent content consumption and "likes".

Apple isnt as big as you'd think they are...

 

[ipedro]

Apple isnt as big as you'd think they are...

Apple's users are far more influential than you realize they are – it's as if you're just going by user marketshare, which is a far too simplistic and shallow a measure to determine influence. I work in e-commerce and advertising. I know first hand how Apple users are viewed by the industry. While Apple's user base may represent a minority of users, they represent the vast majority of advertising targets because they're the ones statistically most likely to convert to buying customers.

I buy ads in e-commerce and have witnessed exactly what I expected would happen, as listed at the start of this thread in mid 2020. Facebook has lost billions every quarter as a direct result of not being able to track iOS users and their ad performance.

Even without any expertise in the industry, you just have to see for yourself the desperation in Mark Zuckerberg's attempts at shutting Apple's privacy blocking – he pivoted the entire company away from the up-until-then reliable business model that made Facebook the giant it is.

Those are not the actions of a CEO that is unconcerned with Apple because they're not "as big as you think they are". Apple users' value to advertisers has the potential to destroy Facebook which is why the company is rapidly moving away from the business model that relies on them.

Oh.. and btw, how "not big" do you think the most valuable company in the world is? A minority of users, but a vast majority of buying potential. There's a reason for this chart:

 

[Abazigal]

As a shareholder and believer of Facebook, I sure hope Apple doesn't kill it.

Apple doesn’t need to kill Facebook. Just kill off a massive chunk of its profitability.

 

[ipedro]

A couple of years into this and I wonder if those repeatedly and stubbornly doubting the premise of this thread are learning anything.


via The Verge:

Apple has a lot more pull than some people realize, outweighing its marketshare many times over, because the number of devices in the market is not the important number, it's the number of devices held by people with the most buying power. The latter is the number advertisers care about and Apple owns that segment – it's not even close. My largest client just pulled 90% of their budget out of Facebook/Instagram entirely because Facebook ads and retargeting no longer work with iOS users, the by far highest spending demographic.