The phenomenon of online platforms gradually degrading the quality of their services, often by promoting advertisements and sponsored content, in order to increase profits. (Cory Doctorow, 2022, extracted from Wikitionary) source
We discuss how predatory big tech platforms live and die by luring people in and then decaying for profit.
We also discuss how naturally open technologies like the Fediverse can be susceptible to corporate takeovers, rugpulls and subsequent enshittification.
I have no idea why investors still believe in meta. They are absolutely thrashing right now because they're so out of ideas. Metaverse was a good idea but they could never be the ones to implement it well. Then just AI and now this? They don't know what they're doing
I haven't been following the market in a while, but I'm pretty sure they keep reporting record revenue and profit. And investors seem to like layoffs. And Zuckerberg has shown he's not afraid to buy favors from politicians.
Was the metaverse a good idea? I’m not convinced
I honestly think the Metaverse could be a revolutionary idea. However, the way it could be great is not compatible with how Big Tech would ever build it. It would need to be equalized, democratized, owned by the people. There of course could be private or paid areas, but it could never be the default. A user would need to be able to live a completely normal experience in there on their own, with their friends, with no paywalls - ever. That's why big tech would never be able to do it. Then if you wanted to go somewhere and watch a licensed movie that's paid, that's separate.
Meta feels like Microsoft did back in the mid 90s. They dominated a market completely, then went looking for other markets to dominate based on buzzwords and vibes.
So on brand for Zuck
Next up, porn called Micro Meta
Time to start pivoting from AI.
What a horrible insult to the software that basically made the WWW get going. Arena was the first widespread web browser.
Zuck's whole thing is just stealing names from far cooler things. Metaverse came from a Neal Stephenson novel
Snow Crash. Awesome Book
Those who cannot create, just steal. That's how billionaires are made, and this is how AI is made.
Zawinski's Law needs to be updated to change 'email client' to 'slot machine'.
Well, the metaverse was a wast of money, but you can't really say operating a casino is.
House always wins. It's basically just theft.