Read on Twitter
a) I’m not surprised. That’s 1.0 software for you.
b) it may not matter. Hey doesn’t exist to have the best features, it exists to provide an alternative to creepy mega corporate bullshit.
And that may well be enough over a long enough look. https://twitter.com/buildsghost/status/1274148259041144835
b) it may not matter. Hey doesn’t exist to have the best features, it exists to provide an alternative to creepy mega corporate bullshit.
And that may well be enough over a long enough look. https://twitter.com/buildsghost/status/1274148259041144835
We are at the end of a major technology cycle.
It began with the participatory (2.0) era (Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, Flickr), and ended with all of these layoffs across tech. The boundaries are porous but let's center them at about there.
It began with the participatory (2.0) era (Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, Flickr), and ended with all of these layoffs across tech. The boundaries are porous but let's center them at about there.
Web 2.0 was a social phenomenon underpinned by a technological shift.
In the 90's, the web was new. And it was largely static.
You could use something called cgi scripts to create more complex functionality, but that was some truly arcane shit.
Most wrote HTML with some gifs.
In the 90's, the web was new. And it was largely static.
You could use something called cgi scripts to create more complex functionality, but that was some truly arcane shit.
Most wrote HTML with some gifs.
But by the time Web 2.0 kicks off, we've seen the maturation of free, open-sourced web server technology to render web pages on a per-user basis.
This opens the door to applications that allow abundant ~user-generated content~, and makes it affordable to build with small teams.
This opens the door to applications that allow abundant ~user-generated content~, and makes it affordable to build with small teams.
So we get an EXPLOSION of web apps
And so everyone who could possibly construct a contender in this space built a net to catch eyeballs and sell them back off to the highest bidder
Google, with a free email service
YouTube, with videos
FaceBook, with pictures of your classmates
And so everyone who could possibly construct a contender in this space built a net to catch eyeballs and sell them back off to the highest bidder
Google, with a free email service
YouTube, with videos
FaceBook, with pictures of your classmates
A handful of these contenders have seen their balance sheets grow fat as ticks, sucking away at the attention, data and privacy of billions of users.
A handful of these are making the world materially worse so they can ride a stock market high.
A handful of these are making the world materially worse so they can ride a stock market high.
With so many incumbents truly DESPISED right now, it makes sense to see something like Hey emerge.
All it has to do is provide an alternative on a techno-political basis and it is already creating value. That is wild.
I expect it's only the first big splash of many.
All it has to do is provide an alternative on a techno-political basis and it is already creating value. That is wild.
I expect it's only the first big splash of many.
That doesn't mean Hey is going to win.
We don't talk about digg anymore. Hell, we barely talk about Flickr, and that one exited.
We have no idea what the next cycle is going to do. All we do know is how the last one has set the table:
A lot of people are pissed.
We don't talk about digg anymore. Hell, we barely talk about Flickr, and that one exited.
We have no idea what the next cycle is going to do. All we do know is how the last one has set the table:
A lot of people are pissed.
The open question for me about all this:
If cheaper code/shorter cycles driven by open source animated the last cycle, what is going to animate this one?
New technology production costs have continued to drop, but not in any paradigm-shifting way.
If cheaper code/shorter cycles driven by open source animated the last cycle, what is going to animate this one?
New technology production costs have continued to drop, but not in any paradigm-shifting way.
I’m not sure the discontent with incumbents is enough to drive the new cycle either. It creates pockets of opportunity, certainly.
We ARE in the midst of a socio-cultural paradigm shift. I think it’ll be a few years before we see its effects on new technology, but:
We ARE in the midst of a socio-cultural paradigm shift. I think it’ll be a few years before we see its effects on new technology, but:
If we see a material change in who is seen as valid to create new technology, it will also change the technologies created.
That alone could be like acetone to the plastic incumbents.
I guess we’ll find out.
That alone could be like acetone to the plastic incumbents.
I guess we’ll find out.
