Fascinating op-ed in the New York Times regarding how Facebook makes money off us and our data.
They currently make one cent for every hour each of us spends on there.
I would certainly be happy to pay Facebook 20 cents a month in order for my data and privacy to remain intact, and to be a customer rather than a product.
The problem with Facebook and other such sites, is that we believe they are free, when actually we are paying for them with things that are often more valuable than money itself.
Interested to hear whether people feel I'm wide of the mark on this, keep thinking that I must be missing something in order for it to justify this type of valuation.
I have a few more details on it (I wrote the linked article)
Coca Cola invested $10M back in 2012 as part of a $100M round.
I know that before they invested, Coke and Spotify had an existing partnership including integrating Spotify into Coke’s music websites and Facebook page.
At the time, the Director of Global Entertainment at Coke said:
“Music has always been a huge part of Coke, I think since 2008 or 2009, you've seen us ramp up from the global perspective, and I think Spotify is the next evolution of Coca-Cola music. It's going to be interesting to see how Spotify accelerates our global music strategy, and how the brand can facilitate that conversation where people discover music and share it amongst each other.” (from an article on AdWeek)
"X has been part of Y since inception, we've always had our eyes on broadening the scope of Y to the X-generation. We want to really expand upon our base and help X seek Y in new ways. Thanks, Mike"
3. You'll see an app called "Reset Search" Alternatively there may be a folder called "InstallMac". Drag it to Trash and empty Trash
4. Open Chrome. Go to Settings
5. Click the button called "manage search engines" and make Google the default. Then click the cross to remove "search the web"
6. In Chrome Settings under "Appearance" click "Change" and then set "Use the new tab page." Also in the "On Startup" section ensure you delete the searchbenny page. and then set to "open a new tab".
7. In Safari open Preferences and head to "General Settings". Change your default engine (IMHO bing is better than Google). In newer Safari versions you can do this in the "Search" tab. Also remove all garbage from the "Manage Websites" section.
8. Set the homepage to "http://www.apple.com/startpage/" Alternatively open "Top Sites" in a new tab and use that by selecting "Use Current page"
9. Open "Activity Monitor" - Quit the "InstallerT" process.
10. You're set. Just some malware. No permanent damage. All it did was change your search defaults.
Had to post using a different account cause HN says I was submitting too fast.
I just googled "download skype for mac" without the quotes and an ad for the mentioned site was the first result. Another non-skype site's ad was second, and the first real result was the expected download page on skype's website. I could see a lot of people falling for that.
If true, Google collected revenue from the advertiser on "Mac" and "Skype" from a company obviously preying on people's level of sophistication. In 2000, claiming naivety would at least be plausible. Today it ain't.
The thing is i'm not sure that TransferWise are a 'Unicorn' yet. 'Close to $1B' is not '$1B'.
I know 'Close to $1B' is not as sexy as a mythical creature but if we're going to set these arbitrary classifications then let's at least stick to them.
Using Kickstarter again to add and improve on the product after a previously successful campaign is a strong strategy, interested to see if they can replicate their initial success.
Yeah I thought that was the case for games. The product in question however is a big data/intelligence tool. A 'founding customer' deal was what we were considering, a heavily discounted price for a years subscription and to join a closed beta. Just wondered whether charging for closed beta was a generally accepted thing or whether we would be laughed out of the park.
They currently make one cent for every hour each of us spends on there.
I would certainly be happy to pay Facebook 20 cents a month in order for my data and privacy to remain intact, and to be a customer rather than a product.
The problem with Facebook and other such sites, is that we believe they are free, when actually we are paying for them with things that are often more valuable than money itself.