> If a $500b company with a product used by 1/3 of the human population isnt a success, i dont know what is.
It's not exactly a success (except from the most selfish and financial perspectives), it's more like proof you can abuse your users and get away with it.
This take reduces the idea too much. If everyone was just "Abused", they'd stop using it. Clearly, many people see benefit despite the abuses.
I used facebook messenger to keep in touch with my family across the world. My family is incapable of using signal, whatsapp, sms, email, telegram, phone calls, or anything else.
I also use facebook to buy stuff on the classifieds. It's like craigslist except there's at least a picture of someone and a paper trail if they decide to murder me.
My neighborhood organizes events using a facebook group and we've been able to have festivals and organize groups to go fight against companies that want to industrialize the area.
Facebook is trash at what it was initially built to be, but it is still very useful.
It's not exactly a success (except from the most selfish and financial perspectives), it's more like proof you can abuse your users and get away with it.