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Comment by bluetomcat | Hacker News Reader

I'm not a fond user of Facebook for its social networking capabilities, but where I live in Eastern Europe, pretty much any local small business now relies on a Facebook page for its discovery and presence. Whether it's gyms, wedding agencies, child amusement, car TLC repair shops, etc. My primary use of Facebook is to discover those local businesses.

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Yes, and if Facebook were to disappear, all of those places and all of those services would advertise elsewhere - if there is no competing platform currently, one would appear. That's the whole point. Just because it's convenient doesn't mean the entire economy in your country should rely on the good will of an American corporation.

Exactly. None of Facebook's products are irreplaceable. If Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Oculus disappeared, even disappeared overnight, there would be a brief period of confusion where everyone scrambled to find alternatives, they would find these alternatives, and then... life would just go on. We might all be better off, particularly if everyone switched over to more open-web, accessible technologies. If the early studies are right, we might even see a general improvement in public happiness and mental health without Facebook and Instagram.

Same here in France. You hardly can’t look at a restaurant’s menu without being prompted for a Facebook login.

You bring up a very good reason why restaurants (etc.) should be fleeing FB — it might not be the basket you want all your eggs in.

Then again, something else will come along. As long as the public and business are flexible. We saw the printed newspaper, "Yellow Pages" replaced.

Good riddance.

Getting a login wall when I try to check your working hours or menu is the surest way to lose me as a client.

Oh, and I might even tell the business how and why they're not getting my money... if the only way to contact them wasn't through messenger.

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