Mark Zuckerberg churned out a lengthy blog post today where he proposes shifting Facebook’s gears to be more privacy-focused. Privacy-focused social media sites are a very different game than the open platform Facebook currently operates on so this should be an interesting transition if Zuckerberg is indeed sincere about shifting.
Facebook has been facing a deluge of criticism and distrust due to many instances of privacy and security lapses on its part. The situation has gotten so bad that Zuckerberg appeared before Congress to give testimony about the company’s operations and role in those lapses. Now, it seems where Facebook once had no interest in privacy and security, they have changed their tune to privacy-focused.
My focus for the last couple of years has been understanding and addressing the biggest challenges facing Facebook. This means taking positions on important issues concerning the future of the internet. In this note, I’ll outline our vision and principles around building a privacy-focused messaging and social networking platform. There’s a lot to do here, and we’re committed to working openly and consulting with experts across society as we develop this.
Mark Zuckerberg
Zuckerberg notes in his blog post how the company has helped connect friends, communities and interests in what he calls a “digital town square.” He admits that users are increasingly asking for more privacy in the “digital living room.” He goes on to say that he believes a privacy-focused platform will become even more important than the open platforms of today.
Privacy gives people the freedom to be themselves and connect more naturally, which is why we build social networks.
I understand that many people don’t think Facebook can or would even want to build this kind of privacy-focused platform — because frankly we don’t currently have a strong reputation for building privacy protective services, and we’ve historically focused on tools for more open sharing. But we’ve repeatedly shown that we can evolve to build the services that people really want, including in private messaging and stories.
Mark Zuckerberg
Zuckerberg plans on extending the privacy focus to its other properties as well, including Instagram and WhatsApp. It will be interesting to see how he implements this privacy while still maintaining the billions of dollars Facebook makes off of private data. Only time will tell. Hit the link below to read Zuckerberg’s full blog post. It is lengthy and in-depth so grab some coffee, you’re in for a full read.
What do you think of Mark Zuckerberg’s privacy-focused Facebook plans? Let us know in the comments below or on Twitter, or Facebook. You can also comment on our MeWe page by joining the MeWe social network.
[button link=”https://www.facebook.com/notes/mark-zuckerberg/a-privacy-focused-vision-for-social-networking/10156700570096634/” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: Facebook[/button]Last Updated on February 3, 2021.
