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THE CEO OF Facebook has explained why the company decided to make its users download its messaging app.
Facebook Messenger became a mandatory download in July, much to the annoyance of its users. While it was effective, more than 500 million Android users downloaded the app, many were annoyed about Facebook directing it away from the main app and onto a different app.
At a public Q&A session, Mark Zuckerberg explained the company’s thought process behind the decision, acknowledging that making people download an app was bound to annoy a lot of people.
The first thing I want to do is acknowledge that asking everyone in our community to install another app, Messenger, is a big ask so I appreciate that that required work and [caused] a bunch of friction and I just wanted to acknowledge that up front.
So why did they do it? The simple reason was it boils down to the entire experience and simplifying it for users.
The reason why we wanted to do this is because we believe this is a better experience. We think that messaging is becoming increasingly important so on mobile, each app can focus on doing one thing well, we think, and the primary purpose of the Facebook app is News Feed.Messaging was this behaviour that people were doing more and more, there were 10 billion messages sent every day, but in order to get to your messages, you had to open the app, which would take a few seconds, and then go to a separate tap, and we saw that the top messaging apps people were using were these dedicated focused experiences.
The continued focus on messaging apps and their growing importance meant it made more sense for the company to create an experience that plays to this strength instead of cluttering the main app with different actions.
Even though it was a short-term, painful thing to ask folks to install a separate messaging app, we knew we could never deliver the quality or experience inside as just a tab in the main Facebook app… we needed to build a dedicated and focused experience.
He also addressed the issue of why downloading it was mandatory instead of giving users a choice in the matter.
One of the biggest challenges about building products at Facebook is we build for the whole community … The reason is that we’re trying to build an experience and a service that is good for everyone in the community, and one of the things that we found is because Messenger is faster and more focused, if you’re using it, you respond to messages faster.
We realise that we have a lot to earn in terms of trust and proving that this standalone messenger experience is going to be really good, and we’re really committed to that and we have a team of our most talented people working on this.
Zuckerberg covered a number of other topics during the hour-long Q&A. Among them was his feelings on the 2010 movie, The Social Network, which he said he found “hurtful”.
“The reality is that writing code and building a product and building a company is not a glamorous enough thing to make a movie about. It would have been me sitting at a computer coding for two hours straight … They just kind of made up a bunch of stuff that I found kind of hurtful.”
The question of why he always wears a grey t-shirt no matter what he’s doing (he has more than one, thankfully).
I’m in this really lucky position where I get to wake up every day and help serve more than one billion people, and I feel like I’m not doing my job if I spend any of my energy on things [that weren't important]. Even though it kind of sounds silly that that’s my reason for wearing a grey t-shirt every day, it’s also true.
And in case you’re wondering, Facebook was never meant to be cool. Instead, his aim was to make Facebook a utility that always there for people to use and rely on.
“You go home, you turn on the lights, right? You’re probably not like, “Yeah, electricity!” It just needs to work. My goal is that the ability to connect and communicate should be that. It just should work.”
The entirety of Zuckerberg’s Q&A can be found here.
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Wonder how much was spent on the auld coffee and scone… That be another great useless fact to know.
The stress levels are probably high in the dail as our bunch of overpaid, incompetent, sub standard politicians are attempting to do jobs way over their heads and which they are totally unfit for.
If only the EU cared enough to fix our homeless crisis and health crisis as well, then our waste of space politicians could just sit back, relax and collect their unjustifiable various wide ranging financial payments.
@Adrian: the EU or our government could – ban smoking – immediate jail for a month for any one caught smoking. Selling or smuggling cigarettes one year jail. Limit everyone to 1 pint or 1 glass of wine per week. Ban sweets chcolates, cakes. Ban cars in city centres. Everyone must walk 10km per week, cycle 50km. Monthly check ups to prove their weight fitness, blood pressure and cholesterol is at recommend es levels or face fines or lose their TV, WiFi or car until they are healthy
@David Kelly: Wow, not at all fascist, eh?
@Adrian: When are you running for a seat Adrian? You seem to have it all sussed out.
Slow news day ZZZZZzzzzz
However much was spent in the dail bar, they probably puts indirect expense claims in for all this. I’d imagine when the ministers of state went to pascal a few weeks back about their hotel costs, he probably said, i can’t give you hotel expenses but if you claim it under say admin…. Dail bar pints are probably included in their food and drinks expense claims. Cigarettes maybe in the entertainment expense claims.
@Adrian: probably, imagine, probably, probably.
Great research.
@Chin Feeyin: ok. Its guaranteed they do it.
@Chin Feeyin: and its good that you agree. Thanks!
@Adrian: probably not.
@Adrian: paranoid much!!
Another ‘cash for ash’ scandal.
Which probably equates only to 10 people buying their smokes there while in work, as a smoker I probably go through 300 packs a year. Not really a news worthy story….
I always buy my cigarettes from my local TD. They’re so much cheaper.
Probably the only ones that can afford
them now
I wanna know how many packets of bacon fries they go through in a year.
Not surprised a lot of smoke and mirrors in Lenister House.
@JesusMoreBullshit: Don’t forget the smoke and daggers…
Close the bloody thing down
@Jamie: the entire dail or just the bar ? id go for the former myself !
Saw that old movie Gremlins over the weekend, no idea why the bar scene came to mind when I was reading this article, no idea.
Is there a condom machine in the Dáil bar?
This may be perceived as toxic4.4/10
@Micheal McGee: Too late for the residential inbreds that infest the Dáil.
And these are the very people that tell the people that pay their wages not to smoke or drink because of the f***** up health system …
You couldn’t make it up.
Sweet Jesus… After all their swaning around the world. You would think duty free would be the order of the day.. .
The big point to consider is not the amount of cigarettes they smoke but rather the number of TDs in the Dail (and Senators in the Seanad). I’m sure you all realise it is the highest per capita representation in the EU. It would fit Mr Murray and his fellow journo travellers better to highlight this fact and see if the number could be reduced.
I hope they choke on them
Curupt shower of horses who couldn’t run a bath bunch of ankers
Shit news…Work it out. Its under 10 packets a week. Not a big deal considering the amount of people in the dail..
Wtf dose the dail have a bar in the first place
Claremorris Council don’t like giving houses to there own they give them to every forgien hunt going they are the biggest shower of %ankers going I’m so mad with these fuuckkers
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