"If you can't acquire it, copy it", History of Facebook imitation

 

Facebook's imitation technology

In fact, Facebook has a very long history of the imitation. There were a lot of cases where I did it outright.

But looking at Facebook's imitation cases, I also think that Facebook's imitation technology is evolving.

Among them, Facebook's imitation of Snapchat is very similar to TikTok's imitating these days.

Snapchat became very popular when it first released messages and photos that disappear after a while and posts that disappear 24 hours after posting.

Let's take a look at the examples of Facebook's Snapchat and TikTok imitations in turn.

Zuckerberg failed to acquire Snapchat

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="507"] Snapchat[/caption]

Facebook tried to acquire before imitating Snapchat

On November 28, 2012, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg sent an email to Snapchat founder Evan Spiegel.

“I’m keeping an eye on you and Snapchat. I'd love to meet you and hear about your vision."

"If it's okay, I'd like to talk while taking a walk at Facebook's headquarters when I have a chance to come here."

It was not long after Zuckerberg bought Instagram for $1 billion.

It was a time when all startups that were likely to hinder the future of Facebook in any way were being bought out.

Snapchat was a social media enjoyed primarily by teenagers, but Zuckerberg saw it as a threat.

Spiegel sent the following reply to Zuckerberg:

"thanks. Nice to meet you. If I ever need to go to Silicon Valley, I will contact you.” To interpret, “Just because you’re a great Facebook CEO doesn’t mean you’re going to run away on your feet.”

I think it might be enough. Zuckerberg was desperately ignoring Spiegel's 'This'.

And he sends an email asking me to meet him again saying he is going to Los Angeles (where Snapchat is headquartered).

This is how the meeting happens.

The first meeting of Zuckerberg with spiegel 

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="466"] Spiegel and Zuckerberg[/caption]

At the first meeting with Spiegel, Zuckerberg started courting by discussing the advantages of Facebook's acquisition of Snapchat.

The point was that Snapchat could grow rapidly while focusing on products and have a global presence under the umbrella of Facebook.

Of course, Spiegel could make a ton of money along the way, and Facebook would gain a younger user base by pulling its enemies to its side.

It was a one-stone two-part ‘carrot’ operation. But at the same time, he also showed off a 'whip'.

It was an app called Poke, which is being developed by Facebook.

This chat app was able to send and make messages disappear after a while.

‘If we put this out, you will have a hard time too’

It was kind of a threat.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="407"] Poke app[/caption]

But Spiegel turns down Zuckerberg's takeover offer. On December 21 of that year, Zuckerberg sent Spiegel a one-line email.

“Use your fork well.”

It was a routine Zuckerberg tactic to launch a counterfeit product after being turned down in this way.

Spiegel laughed.

The fork looked a little weak.

However, the fork topped the Apple App Store as soon as it was launched.

Of course, it went down right away and disappeared from the rankings.

It seems like Spiegel swept his chest down.

However, Facebook's fork launch has results that no one expected.

The fact that Facebook released an app where messages disappear after sending it was taken as a sign of acknowledging Snapchat's vision.

Snapchat is starting to become more popular

Zuckerberg's courtship

In 2013, Zuckerberg's courtship continues. Snapchat management will let you do whatever you want

There were rumors of cowardice, such as letting me be involved in Facebook management.

The acquisition value goes up to $3 billion

But again, Spiegel refuses.

He felt that the corporate culture of Snapchat and that of Facebook were very different.

In the mobile era, Facebook seemed to be too desktop-oriented.

It wasn't cool either. Besides, beggar-like imitation products come out.

Instagram's 'Story' copied from Snapchat

Facebook’s unofficial internal slogan

It's 2016. Zuckerberg made the following remarks at a meeting with all of his employees:

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="549"] Snapchat story[/caption]

“Failing to provide the best service to users because your self-esteem is damaged is the neglect of duty”

It meant giving customers the best experience, even by imitating other companies' services or products.

Since then, “Don’t avoid imitation because you hurt your self-esteem” became Facebook’s unofficial internal slogan.

At the same time, Snapchat launched a new service called ‘Story’.

It's a diary-like posting of what happened during the day, so I made it large a day later.

The story begins to explode in popularity. It was Kevin Systrom, the founder of Facebook's subsidiary Instagram, who coveted Snapchat's new popular

service.

Systrom was concerned that Instagram was becoming too public.

It has become a desolate place where you can only see photos of celebrities and influencers.

Snapchat came up with this story when users were wondering if it could give them the feeling of a private space where they could share their slightly ridiculous personal posts with their friends.

Systrom said, "That's it!" he wanted

‘Story’: Snapchat vs Facebook vs Instagram

If it was Zuckerberg, I might have copied it with a little twist. But Systrom has gone into an all-in-one imitation mode.

On global social media platforms such as Instagram, it is common for new services to be tested and rolled out by region.

But Systrom rolled out the same worldwide service the same year Snapchat's story came out.

Even the name is the same as the story. I mean, he didn't even think of changing his name.

Systrom didn't even hide that he copied it.

Throwing the ball to Evan Spiegel and Snapchat, he says that Stories have been an integral part of Instagram.

As soon as Instagram published a story, the number of daily users exceeded 200 million.

The following year, Facebook also released a story. Posts and messages that disappear after a certain amount of time have appeared all over Facebook. Snapchat was bound to get hurt.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="339"] Facebook story feature[/caption]

“If you make something amazing, other people have no choice but to imitate it. You have to accept it and enjoy it.”
“A search bar on Yahoo doesn’t make Google Google.” Snapchat has since remained just that kind of social media.

It went public in 2017, but its share price has neither risen nor fallen.

Zuckerberg succeeded in bringing down Snapchat

In the end, Zuckerberg succeeded in bringing down Snapchat, which he failed to acquire.

To put it very simply, when the acquisition failed, they copied it and took a hit in the process.

‘Lasso’ and Instagram ‘Reel’ to check TikTok

Facebook has neutralized rivals by acquiring Instagram and WhatsApp.

And Snapchat, which failed to take over, followed suit.

It's been more than 10 years, but I tried to take over Twitter, but it didn't work.

It's hard to see now, but in fact, there are a lot of aspects of Facebook that were inspired by Twitter.

The proposal to acquire Foursquare was also rejected, but after imitating it with 'Facebook Place', etc., I eventually acquired another similar company.

Then, in 2016, China's ByteDance released 'TikTok'. ByteDance later acquired the Chinese lip-sync app Musical.ly and merged it with TikTok.

Short video platforms under 15 seconds have exploded in popularity with Gen Zers.

Zuckerberg tried to acquire Musically

In fact, Zuckerberg was trying to acquire Musically before TikTok. In 2016, Zuckerberg invited Alex Zhu, one of Musically's founders, to Facebook's

headquarters.

He even went to the musical Lee's headquarters in Shanghai.

But for some reason, the argument fails. And musically fell into the hands of TikTok.

At the end of 2018, when TikTok was growing in popularity, Facebook launched a short video platform called ‘Lasso’.

First time hearing this?

There is a reason. This platform was only available in the US and some countries in Latin America.

Lasso is almost identical to TikTok.

Users can record a 15-second video and upload it with music.

Similar to TikTok, it is an algorithm that continuously recommends videos.

In July 2020, a year and a half after its launch, Facebook decided to discontinue Lasso.

Facebook said of Lasso, which is so similar to TikTok, that "We tested it through multiple apps to help people learn how to express themselves, and Lasso was one of them."

Can't you see the pattern at this point? Just as Snapchat followed Snapchat with a separate service fork and Instagram story, TikTok is copied with a separate service Lasso and Instagram release.

Nor does he deny that he is copying.

Imitation is a difficult problem. Those who suffer are heartbroken, but if they succeed, they are praised for expanding the range of consumer choices.

Because history is written from the perspective of the victors, if the imitation succeeds, the leading company
even to be forgotten.

But one thing is clear: Facebook is a really scary company.

I don't care what the people around me say, I don't stop rushing to subdue the opponent somehow.

Read Also: TikTok’s huge popularity stems from its ‘unbearable lightness of existence’, Short Video Apps – What’s The Business Model?,“If you can’t acquire it, copy it”, History of Facebook imitation