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Proton is trying to become Google, without user data
by
AllOutNerdClan
https://www.wired.com/story/proton-mail-calendar-drive-vpn/
It's great that there is a mainstream media alternative to google, we can see if data collection is really that beneficial towards user experience by personalizing it.
"If you're not happy with Facebook's privacy practices, what is the alternative social media that you can go to other than Facebook and Instagram? You don't really have that many options. We need more players out there. If they had to compete, then competition would force privacy to be a selling point."
The reason why Facebook got away with it for so long is that it didn't have many real competitors. So, presumably, Indie Hackers/startups/companies facing greater competition are those who will feel a greater need to adapt to this demand for more privacy if they want to remain competitive.
I see the advantage from a user perspective. But tech companies mainly use user data so they can predict user behavior and find ways of influencing their decisions. Without user data, knowing how to improve your product and/or what new features to build would be more difficult. How could online businesses overcome this?
There's evidence to suggest the data that's collected by search engines isn't actually as much of a competitive advantage as people assume (https://hbr.org/2017/09/do-tech-companies-really-need-all-that-user-data). The results from this MIT study showed that "the decision to anonymize or de-identify the data didn’t appear to impair the search experience." Plus, historical data isn't particularly valuable, because people's circumstances, preferences, etc change. So, for Indie Hackers in the early stages of product development, especially since you're not dealing with hundreds of thousands or millions of users, I think getting direct feedback from users is a better way to go.
Talk to users directly, you don't actually need to talk to as many to gain huge insights. Interviews don't need statistical significance, just "saturation". There's a good NNG article on how many's a good number: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/interview-sample-size/
Although quantitative data (like analytics) is very useful for the "what" of user behavior, qualitative methods like interviews are better for the "why" behind user behavior.
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