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Comment by jaequery | Hacker News Reader

In what seems like a blink of an eye, Facebook, is now considered the old people platform, according to kids these days. It took me a while to grasp it but it looks like FB has a huge problem in there hands and it's interesting to see how they tackle their image.

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FB has had a big problem for years. Zuckerberg, notwithstanding everything else, to his credit has demonstrated he is intimately aware of it through his acquisition strategies. If it's in a blink of an eye, it's your eye. To others it's been the case ever since the Instagram/Whatsapp acquisitions.

I wouldn't really describe it as "blink of an eye", Facebook hasn't been popular with the younger crowd for many years.

That was one of the reasons FB acquired Instagram, as most younger users started flocking there instead of FB.

For what it’s worth, I started noticing kids not caring about Facebook around 10 years ago. It was gradual, but evident for quite some time.

And Facebook bought Instagram about 10 years ago. They know where the wind blows.

Oh, you’re right. I recall a lot of people thinking Facebook was in a major decline trying to stay relevant. $1B for Instagram?! What a joke!

Well… it worked out for them alright.

I for one only blink at a rate of once every few years.

Facebook became the old people platform when my parents and relatives joined in ~2012. That's about the time I stopped using it.

That was actually nice for a while - I mean, you do want to keep up with them.

But in the last few years, every interaction with any of them on my FB account has been either conspiracy theories or them trying to send me messages in the replies of random other peoples' posts. It seems that being on it too much was bad for them.

Serious consideration: they are embracing this reality as their primary long-term strategy, anticipating their becoming the defacto “metaverse” virtual world that older people wish to be plugged into. I can clearly see a future in which users can sign over all current and future retirement funds and financial assets, and in exchange be plugged full-time into a “facebook disneyland” to live out the rest of their years in digitally augmented bliss as an avatar alongside friends and family.

> plugged full-time into a “facebook disneyland” to live out the rest of their years in digitally augmented bliss as an avatar alongside friends and family.

the tech for this is essentially sci-fi though. We have no way of uploading the brain, nor "plugging it in" without ensuring bodily functions. Is Facebook gonna go into the aged care business, hiring nurses and doctors to take care of their customer's lives while they have a headset on for the rest of their life?

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