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Facebook pretends to be a little kid who falls in love with a new Lego set but then gets bored. It’s up to users and partners to clean up.

Six years ago, Facebook was the next big thing. Robots sending texts in Messenger app to help people order flowers or decide which jeans to buy. The idea isn’t stupid, but I’m guessing a Messenger bot didn’t pick your pants.

The company also warmed up and then cooled down on a feature that allows people to stay warm. live broadcast from their phones and TV-like video center It’s called Facebook Watch. on Facebook on Monday threw it on the towel in the planned digital currency, a project that pushes monetary and state organizations were supposed to respond, but this was unfinished from the very beginning.

Trial and failure can be healthy. For Facebook and other corporate giants, flops or short-term whims usually don’t do much harm. (The company renamed itself Meta, but I’m sticking with Facebook.)

But for the rest of us, Facebook’s stumbles may linger. Ask any business partner who’s remodeling their customer service team for Messenger bots or spends their limited resources making videos for Facebook Watch, but Facebook’s enthusiasm should be quenched.

This pain may be the inevitable cost of the invention. But especially now – as Facebook He bets the company on a more immersive future of the internet, called the metaverse. — It’s worth asking what we gain and what we lose when companies with the power and influence of Facebook persuade the world to follow them into a future that may never come.

In a way, how often does Facebook get excited about a new idea, and then – well, switches to a different bright object. Live video and Facebook Watch still exist. They’re not just the high priorities they once were.

Other Big Tech companies lose interest in the things they once loved. (Heck, we all do this.) But perhaps no other company has the combination of the following. spread of facebook and the willingness to announce THAT IT WILL BE HUGE, to convince people to come for the ride, and then… shrug.

It’s okay, at least for Facebook. But there can be a cumulative cost when companies and institutions respond to Facebook’s unpromising ideas.

The Federal Reserve doesn’t have the endless time and resources to study what’s coming out. Betamax crypto currency. News organizations, government agencies, and most businesses have limited resources – just imagine what else they could have done if they hadn’t responded to Facebook’s latest obsession.

Even for Facebook, could the staff and energy it pours into metadata be better spent doing more to ensure its apps don’t suffer? spreading election misinformation or allowing authoritarian governments to abuse them?

I don’t know if there is a fix for the secondary damage of Facebook’s whims. Perhaps, for a start, it might be helpful for Facebook to present its new projects as hypotheses to be tested rather than firm and enduring statements of its priorities.

Facebook’s metaverse pinning is is differs from past short-lived projects. For one thing, Facebook isn’t the only one joining the bandwagon trying to pull us into a more immersive internet that further blurs the lines between digital life and the real thing. And, at least for now, this change of direction is a riskier bet for Facebook than the company’s users or partners.

But I can also understand the tendency for Facebook to believe – even in short – that they can turn their vision into our reality. This is the power of Big Tech.

Effectively tech from Apple and Google dictate how any company reaches potential customers online. When Amazon made expedited shipping free, Americans began to expect it from everyone. America’s internet is turning into QVC because that’s what tech giants want it to be.

We live in the world of Big Tech. Sometimes this brings us handy maps on our phones and online spaces for neighbors to gather. The upside is that when tech giants like Facebook give up on their dreams, it’s up to everyone else to pick up the pieces.

Before you go …

• A big month for video game mergers: Sony spends $3.6 billion buy Bungie, the company behind the Halo video game franchise. This comes after Microsoft spent $70 billion to buy Activision and Zynga, which made Words With Friends, was bought for $11 billion.

  Is it semi-relevant? The New York Times buys WordleOnline word game that has gone viral.

• A lot of work in being the front door to government services: Bloomberg News tells us About ID.me, a company where the IRS will begin using its software for facial recognition scans to prove the identity of Americans. Bloomberg also reports that ID.me is increasingly appearing to be exaggerating claims that the company has uncovered $400 billion in theft from state unemployment insurance programs. (Subscription may be required.)

• “Everybody bets on sports in New York” New York magazine Intelligencer came into existence due to the emergence of new online betting sites after the state legalized this activity. My colleague Kurt Streeter has a column on the subject. heartbreak of sports gambling addicts.

hug this

“It’s like bread and butter, you know? It’s a bit like Thomas’ English muffin with jam. It spreads well.” I wish more blizzards to hear again Andy Massachusetts snowplow driver.

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