According to a New York Times report, Mark Zuckerberg could be integrating and merging WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook Messenger. The Times says they spoke with four individuals involved in the plans which will involve Facebook employees configuring how WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger work.
The report says the apps will still function as stand-alone apps but their messaging service under the hood will be unified. This should mean it will be easier to communicate cross-platform if you use all three services. The Times says Facebook is in the early stages of this project and we should see it rolled out late this year or early 2020.
Mr. Zuckerberg has also ordered all of the apps to incorporate end-to-end encryption, the people said, a significant step that protects messages from being viewed by anyone except the participants in the conversation. After the changes take effect, a Facebook user could send an encrypted message to someone who has only a WhatsApp account, for example. Currently, that isn’t possible because the apps are separate.
By stitching the apps’ infrastructure together, Mr. Zuckerberg wants to increase the utility of the social network, keeping its billions of users highly engaged inside its ecosystem. If people turn more regularly to Facebook-owned properties for texting, they may forgo rival messaging services, such as those from Apple and Google, said the people, who declined to be identified because the moves are confidential. If users interact more frequently with Facebook’s apps, the company may also be able to build up its advertising business or add new services to make money, they said.
Facebook and Zuckerberg have been under the microscope lately due to data breaches and other drama. It seems they are trying to pivot and place user security at the front. Let’s hope it’s a sincere effort and not just posturing and misdirection. Only time will tell.
What do you think of Facebook’s move to integrate and merge WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger’s messaging services? Let us know in the comments below or on Google+, Twitter, or Facebook. You can also comment on our MeWe page by joining the MeWe social network.
[button link=”https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/25/technology/facebook-instagram-whatsapp-messenger.html” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: The New York Times[/button]Last Updated on February 3, 2021.
