Opinion
Auto Added by WPeMatico
The dehumanization of Facebook Messenger
I used to answer every message. Not any more. When Messenger buzzes, now I don’t know if it will be a friend or a bot. Every chime forces me to do a little Turing test in my head. Was I expecting to be pinged by a pal? Or is it 8:11pm again and TechCrunch’s bot is sending me another daily digest. Read More
Powered by WPeMatico
Users average 50 minutes per day on Facebook, Messenger and Instagram
Facebook’s “family of apps” strategy is a wild success. While some might have expected it to roll Instagram into Facebook and leave chat in its main app, keeping Instagram independent and splitting off Messenger into a companion app has helped it solidify itself as more than just a ubiquitous utility, but as a downright addiction.
Today on the Q1 2016 earnings call, Mark… Read More
Powered by WPeMatico
Tech fatigue
This isn’t a rant post. But if you have worked in tech for long enough, you know this feeling — tech fatigue. At some point, everything new feels old, everything different feels dumb. If you get stuck in this circle of endless cynicism, you need to ask yourself the important questions. Read More
Powered by WPeMatico
Facebook Alive
“You never slow down, you never grow old.” Tom Petty isn’t playing the F8 after-party, but his song encapsulates the point of Facebook’s conference — a social network won’t go extinct if it’s reactive, personalized, and urgent. Everything launched today is designed to eschew the generic. To wrap around the user and bend to their whims to create a… Read More
Powered by WPeMatico
Slack’s growth is insane, with daily user count up 3.5X in a year
Plenty of startups have tried and failed to make enterprise software sexy, but Slack made it viral. Its growth rate is unheard of. Both Slack’s daily user count and its paid seat count are up 3.5X in just a year. Tons of people have still never heard of it, but with this momentum, they probably will soon. What the growth means for Slack is network effect. Each person who joins makes… Read More
Powered by WPeMatico
A rant about why Snapchat 2.0 is no disappearing teen fad
Ignore Snapchat at your own peril. It’s a lot more than sexts and ephemeral photos. Today’s Chat 2.0 update makes Snapchat a competitor to your phone itself. What started as an app for horny high school kids has blossomed into the most vibrant communication platform on the market. Watch my video rant above to see why Snapchat suddenly got a lot more important, see a demo of the… Read More
Powered by WPeMatico
Algorithmic feeds force us to compete
Is that photo pretty enough? Is that tweet funny enough? If not, they might not be seen now that Instagram and Twitter are moving to algorithmically sorted feeds. That could spell big problems for marketers and cause our social media lives to be more stressful. To make their apps more consistently interesting, especially for people who don’t check them non-stop, Instagram and Titter… Read More
Powered by WPeMatico
Pandora should revive Rdio as pay-for-what-you-want streaming
Music listeners are cheapskates. Few will pay Spotify or Apple $10 a month even to stream almost every song ever. Meanwhile, radio services like Pandora hardly scrape by on the meager ad rates after they pay out royalties.
So if Pandora wants to resuscitate the battered corpse of Rdio it acquired for $75 million last year, it can’t just be another unlimited monthly subscription. The… Read More
Powered by WPeMatico
Why Apple Is Right To Reject The FBI’s Push To Brute Force iPhone Security
Apple is under pressure from the FBI to backdoor iPhone security. But how will any technology company be able to offer trusted services to consumers if government-mandated backdoors are being forced upon them? Buzzy Social App Stolen Shuts Down Amidst “Concerns” From Users
Amidst concerns over the gaming mechanics of a popular buzzy app called Stolen, its creators Hey Inc. has decided to shut down. They tweeted out the news today. Basically, the app allowed you to “own” peers with Twitter accounts, whether they signed up for the service or not. It was meant to be a fun game, but rubbed many people the wrong way. We’ve decided to shut down… Read More
Powered by WPeMatico