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Comment by misrasaurabh1 | Hacker News Reader

I really don't want to share all my personal life information with meta like this.

In fact, I’d go as far as to say there’s few companies I’d entrust less the level of data required for a tool like a “personal AI agent”…

OpenAI is next on my list

Only one i'd trust less is SpaceX, and they're other major player in this space...

Agreed. Love the idea and the polish. Hate the owners

You are not the target audience.

I don't think normies have a positive association with meta.

Someone is using their products.

This is different from liking them.

But not different enough to prevent people from using them.

Only because you've redefined dislike to encompass portions of what most people would call like.

Hahaha most Meta product users don't even know what Meta is

Yes, the fact that they renamed from Facebook helps them buy some time before people figure it out. But they don't feel good about the company.

How much time? 5 years? 10 years? 100 years?

The average user doesn't make principled decisions around what hardware they use, the software they buy or the services they use. We have billions of Chinese phones and Windows laptops as proof of that. You can give them decades to make a healthier choice, and they'll still go back to use Meta properties if it gives them what they want.

HN users are a tiny minority of social media users, and I think it's easy to buy the fallacy that our privacy-obsessed outlook is the norm. But much like YouTube or X, there will be people defending these dumpster fires until their final breath because it's what they want. We can't stop them any more than I can make you quit using HN.

> We have billions of Chinese phones and Windows laptops as proof of that

Nothing wrong with either of these. Your snobbery is showing.

By the way, normies have a negative impression of Microsoft, and also use their stuff.

> HN users are a tiny minority of social media users

I am not at all talking about HN users. I am not in an HN bubble. Maybe you are, and you are projecting this onto me.

> By the way, normies have a negative impression of Microsoft, and also use their stuff.

They've had a negative impression of Microsoft for three decades. Windows is still the dominant desktop OS.

Hence my original question; how much time does a name change buy you? Windows didn't need one, even though it's bloated spyware.

Is that true? I find that unlikely. I would believe if normies don't know Alphabet or Bytedance even when they use their products every day. But Meta? You open every app they make it literally says "from Meta" in the splash screen

They have over 3 billion monthly active users... Almost half the earth.

I think you need to recalibrate what a "normie" is.

A great many use their products grudgingly in my experience - posting minimally, staying because network effects make it difficult to completely move, and not wanting to give FB and friends more than they already do.

I think you need to recalibrate in your own mind what using a product means. It doesn't mean you like it, or the company behind it. It may also be due to monopoly status.

Do you like your utility company? Your phone company? Your ISP? Your insurance?

Huh? I would echo the sentiment of you recalibrating what a normie is. This is a crazy take. I would guess that fair amount of people have no idea that Facebook rebranded to Meta, let alone what goes on in and around the company.

Meta products are entertainment, not water and power, comparing them to that is so overblown.

Plenty of people don't use IG or Facebook at all, and plenty of people just go on every now and then and enjoy the experience and leave.

Here's what I found when I googled "polling on Mark Zuckerberg":

> Roughly 54% to 70% of Americans express an unfavorable view of him

> Zuckerberg is viewed negatively by both major parties. Democrats and Republicans alike report high rates of disapproval regarding his influence and leadership.

> Dislike for the Meta CEO spans all age groups, though younger adults display particularly high skepticism.

YOU GUYS are so far out of touch to say normies don't hate and distrust the people behind Meta. They will use the products but this is not a positive reflection on the brand at all.

You are playing games. You implied that people's feelings for FB would prevent people from being the target audience.

Clearly that isn't true.

Now you're hyper focusing on how people feel about FB, and not whether it precludes them from being the target market. Convenient.

And before you respond saying "I never said they aren't the target market, just that they hate FB". To which I say, reread the damn conversation. You're obviously drawing a relation between hating FB and not being the target market. Even if you're now scrambling to back out of that claim because we've shown you 3 billion reasons why you're wrong.

I'm not playing games.

All I said to enter this thread was:

> I don't think normies have a positive association with meta.

And a bunch of you guys contested this for some reason.

"Most Americans Still Like Facebook, Poll Finds—But Not Mark Zuckerberg Or Its New Meta Name"

https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2021/11/02/most-am...

Which was my point: CEO affinity =/= the affinity for the product people use

That article is a few years old.

https://yougov.com/en-gb/topics/brand/Meta-Brand

Sorry, again, this data proves my point. "Disliked by 28%" is not a majority.

And "Meta" is not the product people use.

Instagram is at 19% disliked. Majority "like" instagram. https://yougov.com/en-gb/topics/application/Instagram-Mobile...

BMW is at 14% disliked. Just as another "not everyones cup of tea" brand comparison. https://yougov.com/en-gb/topics/brand/BMW

I just don't think people (normies) care. You can dislike a CEO but that doesn't mean you dislike the product or use it less.

They bought those users. I’d quit ASAP if it wasn’t necessary for work. However, I won’t give them a dime.

The target audience is influencers paid by Meta.. Brilliant!

But they say "It comes with strong privacy and security built in" right on the page!

Only Meta and its 27,000 most trusted, carefully selected corporate friends can access your data.

I'd rather have Butterbean punch me in the balls than install a "personal assistant" app from Meta on my computer.

But people love to! Really sad

too late for that, based on all the tracking there is.

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