SUMMARY: Zuck says that Apple is emerging as a huge competitor while Tim Cook blames Facebook for sparking the violence in right-wing hate groups. The gloves are coming off.
Social media’s day of reckoning is approaching. Both Democrats and the other fringe parties agree that social media has way too much power. Apple has taken action with new privacy app requirements, but Facebook sees this as a threat because Facebook loves to collect every piece of data it can.
Apple’s new privacy labels warn users of data collected by apps, but unfortunately, The Washington Post found that many of the App Store’s privacy labels are wrong.
Many tech company executives in “the valley” don’t like Zuck or Sandberg. They both have continually lied and misled people about Facebook’s questionable tactics and avoid taking ANY responsibility at all when it comes to privacy breaches. Yet, despite all this brand continue to advertise on Facebook because sales overrule ethics.
Will users care?
Ah, there’s the rub. If an app is used by many people and provides a high degree of utility, my guess is users won’t care, but for many other apps, the new privacy disclosures could mean slow death.
Statista found that found that 25 percent apps downloaded by mobile app users worldwide were only accessed once after download. In 2020, predictions that adult smartphone users will spend about 4 hours per day using mobile internet, and 88% of that time will be spent in mobile apps, rather than a browser maybe true but 90% of that time is with specified apps like Facebook.
According to Mindsea “though global download growth and the amount of time spent in mobile apps are both steadily rising, download growth in the United States is leveling off.
A report by Comscore further supports this trend: In one quarter of 2109, two-thirds of smartphone users in the U.S. said they downloaded an average of 0 new apps per month. The takeaway here is that unless you’re Google, you shouldn’t make an app just to make an app. Getting a user to adopt a new app or switch from a competitor is not easy—you’ve got to give them a reason to go to the app store and make that download.
Not only are social apps the most frequently downloaded, but they are also where smartphone users are spending the biggest chunk of their time (50% of total usage time, to be exact). In second place are video and entertainment apps, like Netflix and TikTok, coming in at 21% of total usage time. As App Annie reports, the lines are beginning to blur between social apps and entertainment apps as new generations turn to them for similar purposes.
So will Apple vs. Facebook really affect consumers? My guess is no. If people like a certain app, they will continue to download and use it, but for the millions of apps that barely get used, Apple’s new privacy requirements could mean the end.
