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Comment by vlunkr | Hacker News Reader

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vlunkr·

I'm confused about this as well. Why are they choosing to compete with themselves?

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Is it really competition though?

You choose A, Facebook wins. You choose B, Facebook wins.

I believe WhatsApp and FB Messenger are the two top chat networks right now (sadly), at least when looking at regional dominance. And since the value of a network to the individual is dependant on the size, AND they're locked up, they win whatever you choose.

You might loose because you chose the network with less friends, but that changes nothing in the end.

How is this not different from the strategy MS used to follow either kill opponents or buy them? How did the anti trust dept of US allow whatsapp acquisition since it literally made FB king of everything digital?

Mostly because they still have tons of competitors in the messaging space and they're not leveraging their success in social networking to force success in messaging. I'm personally reachable from 10-15 different forms of messaging (and neither WhatsApp nor FB messenger), and most people probably have at least 4-5 so it's a really tough argument that because of Facebook users have to use WhatsApp or FB messenger.

Valid points, they aren't stiffling anyone, you can use others but since everyone is on whatsapp and facebook you have to use them.

Merge stuff together and you get something clunky like Google+.

Twice as many chances for success! :)

from what I am reading they consider it a different market segment and are thus, pivoting.

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