Ask YC: What "problem" does Facebook solve?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=167353

by bosshog • 18 years ago

3 13 18 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I have found it hard to give a great answer to this, "Keeping in touch" seems kinda meh.

I think FB did exactly that for the college crowd, and considering that crowd tends to have many loose connections, it solved a huge need for them - figuring out what everyone was up to.

Once they launched to the world at large, many people enjoyed connecting with people that had been in their lives previously like some big high school reunion. This is still the first thing that attracts a new user to fb.

The problem I see is, without a constant need to stay in touch (i.e. who's doing what, who's going where this week), it really has no purpose. Once I've seen what my buddy in grade 2 is up to now, and who my first girlfriend married, I don't really need to know anything else.

Hence: Applications. FB apps are the solution looking for a problem. In many cases, the app itself is what people like to use. For instance, scrabulous is pretty popular with my wife. The problem is that for someone like me, all the apps do is annoy the hell out of me, and make me less likely to use fb.

I've seen more than a few friends suddenly drop off fb. I suspect the trend to continue.

brlewis3• 18 years ago

After they drop off fb, how do they keep in touch, or do they?

run4yourlives2• 18 years ago

If they're my friends, I already have their emails, phone numbers etc.

If they're somebody I knew from my past, they don't. Because outside of a two minute catch-up when we first discovered each other on fb, we haven't said anything to each other anyway.

pg2• 18 years ago

Seeing what your friends are up to.

brlewis3• 18 years ago

Do you use it for that purpose, or are you guessing based on what other people say about why they use it?

pg2• 18 years ago

I'm guessing; I don't have a Facebook account.

noodle• 18 years ago

it solves the problem of having too much time and not enough diversions while in college.

seriously.

smoody• 18 years ago

It addresses peoples' need to be "discoverable." Also, like Twitter, blogs, Yahoo Answers, etc., it satisfies peoples' need to be listened to. And, for many, it's a good platform for finding people to date and for hookups. IMHO, it's about human ego.

aflag• 18 years ago

Why should it solve any problems? You certainly could find use for it, as lots of people do, but I don't think it was set up to solve any problems. I think Orkut made his service just for fun, people started to use it and find uses for it. And that's how it grew.

Why do you think it solves some problem?

brlewis3• 18 years ago

Are you saying it solves the "I could be having more fun now" problem?

wumi• 18 years ago

"Facebook is a social utility that connects you with the people around you."

That's exactly what it does

japanoid• 18 years ago

Remember what Henry Ford said, "If I'd asked people what they wanted, they would have asked for a better horse."

bosshog• 18 years ago

Some great responses. Thanks

My line of thinking was more from the point of view of "fixing things that are broken" as a way to create interesting products.

For example, Youtube was fixing the lack of an easy way to share video online.

Ask YC: What "problem" does Facebook solve?

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