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Today, Facebook is seen as the prime example for the power of network effects – and yet, one wonders where Facebook would be had it not acquired Instagram back in 2012. People also seem to forget about all the other social apps which Facebook has bought and subsequently shut down over the years. Why would a company that has supposedly “won the mark... See more

Facebook has integrated, through Instagram, content and distribution within one single company, within one single app or constellation of apps.

Mark Zuckerberg in 2019 “Today we already see that private messaging, ephemeral stories, and small groups are by far the fastest growing areas of online communication”

But in 2013, after a key meeting of Facebook's top ad tech execs with COO Sheryl Sandberg, a decision was taken that would severely limit FBX's future.

Mark Zuckerberg owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp with a dual-share ownership structure that ensures Mark Zuckerberg the 14th will still control those entities, “like literally“ We won’t have that at Twitter” - Elon Musk

I think what is happening is people think of us as a feed app, because we started as a feed app. When we launched Instagram, there were no stories, there were no DMs. What's happened over the last decade is that how people share with friends has changed. It has shifted to stories, and it has shifted to DMs and to group chats. More photos and videos... See more

It’s still really early, a lot of things are broken at the moment and there is a lot of speculation. But the promise is that, instead of uploading a file to Instagram servers and having it controlled by Facebook, you have it secured by your private key. And you can program its economics since you are the one who owns it and sets the rules.