Is anyone else a lil worried about the recent sale of MFP?

Options
TheMaggre
TheMaggre Posts: 3 Member
in Chit-Chat
I love this app, it represents the collective good of the internet, the potential benevolence of the terrifying-to-me "internet of tings" that is fast approaching. Its thousands of users working toward a similar goal, contributing new information, updates, advice, support, etc, for the goal of both physical and mental health.

This app has been so great for me, it has all the features anyone needs, and nothing superfluous.

After reading some articles about the recent sale of MFP, at least one article suggests that Under Armor doesn't like that it can't sell its products as well to MFP users because we're not "Focused Athletes" who fit into their general sales target.

That's fine, and I think a lot of us ARE "casual fitness/nutrition"-ers. I always, at least personally, thought that that was the beauty of MFP. Its community-based yet private, and I can pick it up and put it down when I want.

I first started using MFP in 2012, when I weighed 120 pounds and gained a LOT of confidence from losing 9 pounds just by being self-disciplined with MFP. I can't tell you how much that did for my overall self-image and mentality. Fast forward to today: I'm a grad student who's been taking a lot of health blows due to the pandemic, and overall gained a ton of weight due to the overall grad school life. Well, I started back up with MFP again mid September, and have been able to go from 150 back down to 130! It feels really good, and I'm really proud of it.

In my opinion, this platform was never meant to be tailored one type of user vs another, it was just meant to be a sort of wikipedia or information available for people of any fitness level or goal to use at their leisure. Maybe Under Armor wasn't meant for us.

Going forward, I really hope that MFP can continue being the really beautiful community I think of it as, and that whoever owns us next lets us continue to be. I'm really grateful to all the developers who help to continue to support the app and website!

Replies

  • BadAtRunning
    BadAtRunning Posts: 22 Member
    edited November 2020
    Options
    Yeah, I think change in ownership for a platform is always a bit of a scary thing for the userbase, because the ideals and goals of a company can swing drastically after the platform changes hands. And all you can really do is hope a new company wouldn't try to shake things up too badly.

    I think that, like most apps, a lot of the revenue comes from the acquiring and selling of user data. So even if UnderArmour isn't able to target the average MFP user with their products, I'm sure they make a great deal from sharing user data with various marketing firms. So that might be a reason for them to hang on as owners of MyFitnessPal!

Categories