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Trends in medium, AI, and user interaction underpin Instagram’s response to TikTok, and will determine Meta’s long-term moat.
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Instagram’s shift away from being a photo-sharing app is very much inline with the service’s continuous evolution.
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Instagram copied Snapchat, and that’s a good thing: differentiation is about far more than features, and this is Facebook’s best shot at holding off Snapchat.
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Facebook’s Privacy Cake
Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement of A Privacy-Focused Vision for Social Networking is not some dramatic pivot: it is a growth opportunity for Facebook and a challenge for regulators.
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Facebook Earnings, Facebook’s Stories Story, Additional Notes on Facebook’s Earnings
Facebook’s earnings were as disappointing as promised, which was ok with the stock market. Still, is there more going on than simply a transition to Stories?
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The Conflation of Consumer Welfare with Antitrust, More Panel Notes, Google to License Play Store in Europe
Thoughts and notes from the FTC discussion on digital platform and competition, plus how Google’s remedy in Europe will mean more of the same when it comes to Android.
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The Snap Memo, Snapchat’s Core Problem, Snap’s Bad Positioning
Evan Spiegel wrote a long memo to Snapchat that laid out the company’s problems perhaps more starkly than he appreciated.
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Data Factories
Facebook and Google and other advertising businesses are data factories, and regulation will be most effective if it lets users look inside
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Six Years of Systrom, Instagram’s Alternate Reality, Facebook’s Red Flag
Despite this week’s bad news, Facebook won with Systrom’s tenure. Then, what might have been with an independent Instagram, and the worrying signals this sends about Facebook the app.
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Instagram’s CEO
The surprising resignation of Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger should not, in fact, be surprising: this became inevitable the moment they sold Instagram to Facebook.
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Facebook Stories Follow-up, Twitter and Newton’s Third Law
History suggests that Stories will be an advertising success; then, the Alex Jones episode shows how un-monopoly-like social networks are.
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Facebook’s Story Problem — and Opportunity
Snapchat is losing users, and it seems clear the biggest reason is Instagram Stories: that is a win for Facebook, but the pain in advertising may be substantial.
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Instagram Launches IGTV, IGTV’s Monetization, YouTube Channel Memberships
Instagram’s launch of IGTV was impressive because of the clear thinking behind it; the long-term question, though, is about monetization, both for the service and for creators, something YouTube is good at.