Facebook Is Just Craigslist Now (theatlantic.com) 43
Facebook Marketplace has emerged as the dominant feature within the social media platform, amassing 1.2 billion monthly active buyers by 2023 and overtaking eBay as a peer-to-peer selling platform. According to recent data, approximately 16 percent of Facebook's monthly active users now access the site exclusively to participate in Marketplace.
The feature's growth accelerated following the pandemic's supply chain disruptions and subsequent inflation, which increased demand for used goods. Facebook reports that Marketplace is attracting younger demographics who have otherwise abandoned the platform's social features.
This shift represents a fundamental transformation of Facebook's core function from "digital connector" to "digital bazaar," with the platform increasingly hosting transactions rather than social connections.
The feature's growth accelerated following the pandemic's supply chain disruptions and subsequent inflation, which increased demand for used goods. Facebook reports that Marketplace is attracting younger demographics who have otherwise abandoned the platform's social features.
This shift represents a fundamental transformation of Facebook's core function from "digital connector" to "digital bazaar," with the platform increasingly hosting transactions rather than social connections.
Quoted from TFA: (Score:3)
The evolution of whatever this was [thecrimson.com]. And apparently the guy is still shapeshifting [theverge.com].
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Facebook is working fine for me (Score:5, Interesting)
It provides me with a steady flow of interesting conversations with people I would never have met in real life, often making me think hard. Of course that's not popular... Meanwhile amusing memes and other bits to entertain make it a good place for me, and I've never BOUGHT anything from it, though I've taken up free offers of stuff being otherwise thrown out.
It works because it offers a forum that some of us can use to our benefit. Eternal navel gazing about how it's mostly doing 'X' now is irrelevant. Of course it, like the internet generally, will be abused by some; like any sharp tool some people will get injured by it. We need to learn to us it correctly, and yes, that's hard. Our propensity to expect other people to do the hard stuff for us is one of society's least attractive features.
Re:Facebook is working fine for me (Score:5, Insightful)
I dont really give a fuck about interesting conversations with people I dont know. Theres a perfectly good pub down the road from me.
The value of facebook was keeping in contact with my ACTUAL friends. And facebook seems to be doing everything in its power to make that hard. Like , its forgotten that its actually a social network.
Re:Facebook is working fine for me (Score:4, Insightful)
And facebook seems to be doing everything in its power to make that hard. Like , its forgotten that its actually a social network.
Ah, you sure that isn’t more related to you forgetting who the actual Product being bought and sold on that “social” network is? You act like you pay someone for that service.
If it ain’t working right, it’s because you’re not trying hard enough. Back to work, Product.
Re:Facebook is working fine for me (Score:4, Funny)
I dont really give a fuck about interesting conversations with people I dont know.
Then what are you doing here?
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I didnt say I'm opposed to them, just that I dont think its a particularly valuable or uncommon thing. Yes I can have *occasionally an interestesting conversation, or at least A conversation with strangers here. Why does it need this to be the only thing facebook does. When I joined it was laser focused on "Talk with your IRL friends and family!". That was what made that site so revolutionary.
Now on a typical page of my wall theres maybe 4 ads, 6-7 "recomendations" of random pag
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I dont really give a fuck about interesting conversations with people I dont know.
And yet, here you are on slashdot, having interesting conversations with people you don't know.
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Freecycle (Score:2)
Re: Facebook is working fine for me (Score:2)
I don't want Facebook. (Score:2, Insightful)
I've always bought used, everything from cars to laptops.
These days, the Facebook Marketplace is where everybody sells.
I don't have a Facebook account. Craigslist itself is about 90% stealerships and bulk resellers.
There's Letgo/Offerup, which doesn't work because it doesn't work with VPN, and Nextdoor, which is a fucking shitshow for different reasons.
My other beef is that public institutions exclusively use Facebook to post and retain information and data. Ci
Re:I don't want Facebook. (Score:5, Insightful)
My other beef is that public institutions exclusively use Facebook to post and retain information and data. City government, county government, public schools. I can't access some things because of the deep ties to Facebook.
This shits me to tears. Most of these organisations have proper IT staff and a real website, but instead they post shit to facebook where I need an account with zuckerberg to see it.
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My other beef is that public institutions exclusively use Facebook to post and retain information and data. City government, county government, public schools. I can't access some things because of the deep ties to Facebook.
This shits me to tears. Most of these organisations have proper IT staff and a real website, but instead they post shit to facebook where I need an account with zuckerberg to see it.
...or %$#@! Whatsapp!
Which really sucks because of how good Signal is.
Re: I don't want Facebook. (Score:1)
Re: I use eBay (Score:2)
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I closed my FB account a long time ago. At some point I created a new one that has no friends and is solely for FB Marketplace and some of those other things you mentioned that are only on FB. It works but you still have to wade through the crap their algorithm tries to put in front of you. No matter how many things you tell FB to block they will just find more useless crap in your way.
Facebook is at best ... (Score:3)
... an Internet protocol, at worst a global mental illness.
Facebook only ever had a business case because email is a clunky historically grown service and protocol from the steam age of computing. And the alternatives such as Usenet or IRC aren't that much user friendly either if you aren't willing to learn the basics and set up a client.
If we would replace email, Usenet, IRC and a few others with a fresh unified protocol with full on Ident/Auth/Auth/Signature/Crypto and build useable clients for regular people for it, Facebooks business case would instantly vanish into thin air.
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a fresh unified protocol with full on Ident/Auth/Auth/Signature/Crypto and build useable clients for regular people for it
That's AT Protocol, which is what BlueSky is built upon.
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For me, Facebook's entire reason for existing was as a glorified instant messenger. I could almost bet that all of my childhood friends were there, and I could reconnect with them. But once I realized that those childhood friends and I were no longer the same people we were as children, the thrill quickly wore off. I now check my account maybe once a year at most.
After that, Facebook served no purpose other than as a requirement for its only desirable product: the Quest. After that requirement was gone, Fac
Re: Facebook is at best ... (Score:2)
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If we would replace email, Usenet, IRC and a few others with a fresh unified protocol with full on Ident/Auth/Auth/Signature/Crypto and build useable clients for regular people for it, Facebooks business case would instantly vanish into thin air.
This already existed, it was called Google Wave.
Facebook Marketplace (Score:2)
Freecycling (Score:3)
There's a local 'freecycle' group that has massively helped me out in the past. It uses the marketplace, but the
only rule there is that everything must be free, no charge. It's amazing how someone will always turn up who
wants something.
Awful by design? (Score:1)
Re: Awful by design? (Score:1)
If you want to but hookers, you better try the darkside of Facebook I'm vanilla baby
Meta on Meta. (Score:3)
This shift represents a fundamental transformation of Facebook's core function from "digital connector" to "digital bazaar”
So, The Product, is now trying to sell products to other member Products. For profit.
How very Meta.
Wonder if Meta shareholders will like this move? I doubt it. Something tells me selling targeted ads for used shitware on the new digital bazaar, isn’t gonna generate that Hawaiian-island ad revenue like it used to.
I created this (Score:1)
I created this comment myself, but I am sad because nobody appreciated my work.
Hi, is this available? (Score:1)
...and then you never hear anything again.
Craigslist doesn't close your account (Score:4, Interesting)
for trying to sell a Pelican gun case.
So in defensive Facebook (Score:2)
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sharks
Everybody wants to have the "everything" app (Score:2)
FB Marketplace works very well, as evidenced by its growing popularity. You can't argue with success. It should be no surprise that FB is trying to capture more and more of its community. Every social media network -- especially X -- wants to do the same.
This is room for much more consolidation. Personally, I think folding online media service offerings (movies, news, music, etc.) into a user's primary social media account is a great fit. How many different content services are consumers really going to pay
Depends on your demographic (Score:2)
Here in Dubai, where 90% of the population eat with their hands, Marketplace is a cesspool of $0 ads, where you have to manually enage the seller with the obvious "How muc" and then enter into a Pakistani "last price" dance for them to find out how much they can fleece you.
If Facebook simply blocked all these idiots with $0 prices, it would make for a much better ecosystem.
Ever see “no items found in your area” (Score:2)
The real Craigslist still works just fine (Score:3)
No need to put up with facebook's relentless advertising and privacy invasion.
Ebay isn't even Ebay anymore. (Score:2)
Ebay is charging more and more for less and less. They're coasting by on their name and are actively hostile toward sellers anymore. Ebay is only good for pricing research since they let you go back three years to see what stuff actually sold for.