[dash2]

This is the tech version of "nobody I know voted for Nixon": FB's position in the US & Europe is very misleading from a global perspective.

In the Philippines, say, Facebook is the internet. Every business runs on it. People use it instead of news. Everybody uses Messenger to chat. You get free minutes with your phone that are specifically for FB/IG/Messenger.

[michaelbuckbee]

Addendum to this: my filipina aunt is elderly and I was absolutely shocked at the amount of highly specific AI generated content seemingly targeted directly at her on Facebook.

Except instead of thirst traps it was a weird mix of outrage porn, religious imagery, and kids + pets being cute, singing or rescued from odd situations.

I asked a few questions of her to try and figure out if she like really grasped that it was AI, and she knew the general idea, but there's already so many filters and choppy edits of things it was honestly just too hard for her to make the distinction.

[ryandrake]

I had a similar revulsion watching older folks in my family scroll and scroll through obvious AI slop and AI ragebait. They can't even really tell it's AI, and they just sit there gobbling it all up, even though it's 100% nonsense. I mean, on one hand, who am I to tell people what media to like and consume, but on the other hand, I kind of fear for their grip on reality.

[halapro]

The Filipino Facebook world is absolutely atrocious. You can't go 5 minutes in a public place without hearing a barrage of asinine sound effects and enhanced laughter emanating from these loud phones.

[dlisboa]

I don't see it as misleading at all. You're leaving out half the world and implying it's doing fine. Regular Facebook usage in Brazil is also non-existent and it's the 5th or so biggest Internet market. China doesn't have it. I'm not sure about India usage. So if FB isn't popular in the US, EU, China, Brazil, etc, that's an extreme amount of market loss.

[underlipton]

WhatsApp covers a lot of the remainder. When I worked at a job with frequent contact with international guests, the vast majority of people from Africa and SEA, and a good portion of those from Latin American and MENA, were on it. In fact, the first time I'd heard of the app was from them. This was about 10 or 11 years ago. It might have changed since then, as Facebook has for us, but Zuck's empire (read: illegal monopoly) has been dominant globally.

[nathanaldensr]

As someone with a Filipina wife and who's traveled many times to the Philippines, your characterization is exactly correct. Facebook is the option, not just one option.

Interesting side fact: The Philippines is #1 in social media usage in the world.

[nojs]

> The Philippines is #1 in social media usage in the world.

By what metric?

[testing22321]

Yup. I spent time in 35 countries in Africa. FB is the internet.

[dguest]

Does FB data count against your data quota in these countries? I've been quite a few places where it's impossible to buy a sim card that doesn't give you free facebook and WhatsApp.

You can't use the real internet without asking your friends to pay for it.