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Comment by yeukhon | Hacker News Reader

Right, Tbh is bought only because FB is trying to retain those < 20 years old right now. However, I raise my eyebrows when I think about "never a competitor". So why buy Tbh anyway? Sorry to be rude if at all... I am betting Tbh will eventually go out of business if FB doesn't acquire Tbh. Snapchat can build similar product too, like FB and Instagram built Story to compete with Snapchat's.

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FB thinks about apps like tv channels. If you look at the top 10 free apps all of them are owned by either Facebook, google or Snapchat (they own Bitmoji).

TBH was the only app in the top 10 not owned by one of these 3 so the acquired it.

TBH could be a feature of either Facebook or Instagram in the same way that most of the history channels content could be just shows on other tv channels.

These things exist or will continue to exist as separate entities because it’s more profitable that way.

If you see a site like Facebook haemorrhaging users from a specific demographic, target that demographic successfully with anything vaguely social and I'd bet cash money Facebook will scoop you up within a couple years. I don't know if this Tbh site actually did that on purpose, but I wouldn't be surprised in any way if they did.

Hedging against that small chance they get really big. Why risk another snapchat if these guys getting traction can be bought off cheaply now.

As tbh fades in popularity, they will roll this into FB (and Instagram and WhatsApp and......) as a feature and hook these users that are less FB addicted into their ecosystem.

Also, Facebook is an advertising company. They now can push a lot more teen and tween brands to advertise bigger campaigns.

> So why buy Tbh anyway?

It doesn't have to be a potential competitor to pre-emptively buy, it just has to have access to the teenager demographic.

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