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.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.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.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.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.Anyone else feel like the golden age of internet services is behind us, and this shitty version is the only path ahead of us?