Mark Zuckerberg on Messenger (2013)
I think a lot of tech companies / products at tech companies, (e.g. Netflix, YouTube, Messenger) fundamentally get one thing wrong. They don't "value" the user's time and drive for *maximum* engagement. Maybe the problem is that there's a new sucker born everyday, but I despise using Netflix and YouTube, and I use them only because I have to.<p>With Messenger specifically, I absolutely don't want to spend quality time with someone communicating over a digital device. I'd much rather just use it to make plans with the person I want to hang out with.<p>And when I am making plans to spend time with a significant other, if I made a request to a service for "buying two tickets for hunger games at 9pm" and it returned a message saying "I can get you two tickets for shoreline at 9:10pm", I'd want to throw my phone into the ocean. I'd feel differently if I said "buy two tickets to any movie at 9pm", that'd be a completely different story.<p>This is the same problem with YouTube. If you've recently subscribed to a user, or watched one of their videos for the first time, and then make a search for something completely different, one of a first few results will be a video of the user you initially interacted with. It is SUCH a bonkers user experience for me and I want to never give YouTube any information about myself for recommendations just because of that.<p>These platforms / products should be just services. Give the user enough information to make the decision themselves, and help them make the best decision with the most accurate and pertinent information. I hate that these products shove content into your face.<p>Anyone else feel like the golden age of internet services is behind us, and this shitty version is the only path ahead of us?