To be clear: When I say “This is good”, I don’t mean that this makes Facebook a good service. You’re 100% right about Facebook’s trajectory here.
My hope lies in improving consumer expectations, and tech entrepreneurs’ estimation of those expectations. For about 20 years, there’s been a universal assumption that users will never pay for a website, ever. They’ll pay with their privacy and attention all day long, but their wallet? Not gonna happen.
If this proves that there are users who will pay with their wallet instead of their soul, then it paves a way for people who are interested in making ethical services – people who may have been discouraged in the past because they were told that the only way to keep the lights on was to round up their users and feed them to a hungry pack of advertisers.
Customer expectations will improve once companies are brought in line and you know a) what you’re paying for and getting for your money and b) personal information is safe and your usage patterns are not being monetized or worse, sold to some shady third party. Letting the public simply acquiesce to the state of things rather than making things better is insanity. Tech companies have dictated the rules and it’s been basically a free for all to get your data. As much if it as possible. That’s why “free” services even exist. That’s the problem here. That all these dark patterns just became well, patterns.
Adding price tags to things doesn’t inherently make them better, I don’t at all see this warped capitalistic point of view.
With regards to Fb, it’s the same shitty service you use now. The same data mining and telemetry. The same shitty people take your money and make deals with other shitty people. But it now costs $12 so it’s good? You’re going to have to explain that to me like I’m 5.
Charging for things isn’t the right way go. Making things people would pay for is a much better route.
I made space for us both to be right here, cuz you pointed out a way for my original comment to be misinterpreted and I agreed with your thoughts on that misinterpretation.
To be clear: When I say “This is good”, I don’t mean that this makes Facebook a good service. You’re 100% right about Facebook’s trajectory here.
My hope lies in improving consumer expectations, and tech entrepreneurs’ estimation of those expectations. For about 20 years, there’s been a universal assumption that users will never pay for a website, ever. They’ll pay with their privacy and attention all day long, but their wallet? Not gonna happen.
If this proves that there are users who will pay with their wallet instead of their soul, then it paves a way for people who are interested in making ethical services – people who may have been discouraged in the past because they were told that the only way to keep the lights on was to round up their users and feed them to a hungry pack of advertisers.
You’re working on the wrong end.
Customer expectations will improve once companies are brought in line and you know a) what you’re paying for and getting for your money and b) personal information is safe and your usage patterns are not being monetized or worse, sold to some shady third party. Letting the public simply acquiesce to the state of things rather than making things better is insanity. Tech companies have dictated the rules and it’s been basically a free for all to get your data. As much if it as possible. That’s why “free” services even exist. That’s the problem here. That all these dark patterns just became well, patterns.
Adding price tags to things doesn’t inherently make them better, I don’t at all see this warped capitalistic point of view.
With regards to Fb, it’s the same shitty service you use now. The same data mining and telemetry. The same shitty people take your money and make deals with other shitty people. But it now costs $12 so it’s good? You’re going to have to explain that to me like I’m 5.
Charging for things isn’t the right way go. Making things people would pay for is a much better route.
Look.
I made space for us both to be right here, cuz you pointed out a way for my original comment to be misinterpreted and I agreed with your thoughts on that misinterpretation.
But you clearly just want to fight now.