Sharp Tech with Ben Thompson Three Eras of Facebook (and the Internet), The Problems with FTC v. Meta, The Realities of Perfect Competition
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Apr 17, 2025 Explore the fascinating evolution of Facebook and the challenges it faces in the FTC v. Meta case, as its monopoly on social media is scrutinized. Delve into how Facebook's revolutionary news feed transformed the digital landscape and user engagement. The podcast discusses the complexities of market competition, touching on the impact of acquisitions like Instagram on innovation. It also humorously examines mispronunciations in tech and the cultural quirks surrounding them, making for an engaging listen.
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Facebook's Feed Revolution
- Facebook's introduction of the News Feed in 2006 transformed the internet by creating infinite, personalized content.
- This shift made internet advertising far more valuable and changed user interaction fundamentally.
Mobile Shift Made Facebook an Aggregator
- Mobile forced Facebook to abandon platform ambitions and become an attention-focused aggregator.
- Apple's app rules helped Facebook concentrate on owning user attention with immersive full-screen ads.
Facebook Killed Snapchat by Competing
- Facebook's acquisition and imitation of Snapchat's Stories feature decimated Snapchat's growth but was simply competitive innovation.
- Despite criticism, Facebook competed fiercely and improved Stories engineering, securing dominance in the market.