The New Facebook

By L. de Lima

Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook has, for the entirety of this decade, dominated the internet and the world of social media. Even 15 years after being founded, Facebook manages to accumulate over 2 billion monthly users, and bring in billions upon billions of dollars in revenue (53 billion in 2018). Facebook and other acquisitions like Instagram and Whatsapp have made Zuckerberg the 8th richest man in the world.
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His fortune, however, could not save him from a controversial (to say the least) couple of years. Mark Zuckerberg had to testify before the American Congress following a huge privacy scandal that Facebook was part of. Allegedly, companies have being using easily accessible user data from Facebook for diverse illegal activities. Fraud, blackmail, and even political mass manipulation are things that Facebook was accused of facilitating because of its loose privacy policy.


The accusations and processes faced by Facebook caused a lot of turbulence within the company, and apparently creating a different interface with different guidelines was the solution found to get around past disturbances. Zuckerberg himself jokingly said on the F8 developer conference that “we [Facebook] don’t exactly have the strongest reputation on privacy right now to put it lightly”. But he is confident that his new plans for Facebook will be the first step in  “starting a new chapter”.


If redesigning the application goes into effect, the new Facebook will have privacy at its core. Interactions will be more private between known users, and interactions will in no way be accessible by other users or firms. A new encryption system will also be integrated into the platform, all in order to protect user data from ever being used maliciously again. Not only is Facebook going through a reshaping phase; Instagram and Whatsapp also will feature more security than ever.


Apart from security, the redesigning of Facebook aims to create a multiplatform feel to the user, who will be able to use Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp in harmony. Specific details about how the multi-platform system will operate are not yet available, but Zuckerberg has been quick to say that Whatsapp in particular will feature more accessible in-app purchase and payment options.


As Zuckerberg said in the conference, “the future of facebook is private”, and with so many promising changes coming in the near future, its future is also very exciting, rejuvenating and encouraging, specially after the chaotic years the company just went through.