2018 hasn’t been good to Facebook. From their propaganda scandal that helped the Russians sway the US 2016 election[1] to the more recent one with Cambridge Analytica[2], all of which led to Facebook’s worse streak of PR crises since the term ‘social media’ was invented.
In Facebook’s defense, their security team did not anticipate such an angle of propaganda attack because it simply hasn’t happened before. While the department built a hack-proof back-end system, all attacks came in more crude and direct methods through the front door.
But we are not here to discuss the past, rather to weigh Facebook’s moves in the coming year. What ever would they do to remedy this calamity?
Strengthening Security
In March 2018, political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica was exposed for having used Facebook to harvest user information. All these were psychological data gathered through seemingly harmless personality tests, which were then sold to strategize the 2016 US election campaign.
This happened because Facebook had incredibly lax terms on the kind of information third party apps can obtain without user consent. In reaction to that, Facebook will be implementing three steps to prevent future attacks. They are:
Scan
The company will perform full audits on all third-party apps that are still with them. It aims to properly understand the extent of the apps’ grasp on user private user information. This move will also help Facebook better formulate restrictive measures moving forward.
Restrict
Having done the audit, Facebook will be able to apply tighter restrictions on all third party apps. There may also be possible banning exercises performed on those who are caught misusing user data. Part of the data restriction may be in the form of limited time access to these information. This means apps will lose access to the data if they have not been used for three months.
Control
This is something Facebook has always been struggling with. Although it already has settings to control what third party apps can obtain from us, these settings are buried very far under many layers of incomprehensible submenus. Right now though, it is committed to giving users more direct control over security.
The first way to achieve this is by making it easier to access universal security controls under the Settings menu. This will let users see all apps that have access to their data, and control which app gets what information.
The second way is by letting users see what information their friends are extracting from them via the apps. Historically, even someone who does not use sketchy third party apps will have their information collected via their friends who do. All that is about to change with this new control to see and block data collection from your connections’ accounts.
Facebook Stories will be Bigger Than Newsfeed[3]
What got Facebook into the major security hotsoup of Cambridge Analytica was in part their Newsfeed. The ability for people to spread any news so quickly without giving the content much thought, was how election manipulators were able to influence users.
On top of that, Facebook’s algorithm that kept feeding users more of the same information got us all caught in a Filter Bubble. Its initially harmless way of getting us hooked onto Facebook content by feeding us the same stuff, has led to users consuming only from one perspective while being completely oblivious of counter-arguments. As a result, users’ slight discomfort over an issue were magnified to massive proportions just by watching the next suggested video after another.
Due to the wild success of Stories on Instagram, Facebook hopes that the same can work for their main platform. By moving people’s attention away from Newsfeed and onto Stories, Facebook foresee dramatic reduction in content-sharing. The 24-hour time limit will also stop any fake and deceptive content shared from gaining virality.
There are, however, two questions that Facebook has to answer. The first is the fact that almost nobody ever use Facebook Stories in the scale they use Instagram Stories. After creating such a successful stickiness to Newsfeed, how will it switch us over?
The other matter is that it has to figure out how to make as much money in Stories as it does on Newsfeed.
Attention on Messaging
Messaging, in the near future, will become more than just a chat platform. The wildly successful Chinese chat app, WeChat, has shown us that one singular platform can include social media and mobile payment, and replace emails.
It wouldn’t be unthinkable if Facebook is also planning a similar venture with their chat platforms. So here are some of the features that may be implemented in 2019.
Bots for Customer Service
In 2017 Facebook announced their effort in pushing Messenger Bots to businesses. Theoretically, it should have been able to allow businesses perform Customer Service and email-replacement subscription format. The reality though, felt like a hit-and-miss.
While some scarce number of early adopters pounced on the first chance to use this exciting tech, the rest of the world seemed to be completely oblivious to its existence. To this day, this all-powerful capability of Facebook Messenger appears stuck in limbo. But maybe the company’s plan to plough forward in 2019 will include stronger activation efforts.
Monetizing WhatsApp
But of course Facebook being Facebook, no platform can be worth its attention and investment if it cannot first find ways to monetize them. In late 2017, founder of WhatsApp Brian Acton left Facebook to, in his own words, “start a nonprofit”[4]. This move left WhatsApp open to Facebook’s prying hands.
Ever since Facebook acquired WhatsApp for the then insane amount of $16 billion in 2014, it has not been able to make money off of it. This is because Acton made sure the chat app stayed an independent and private platform. Right after he left, though, WhatsApp was quick to announce the arrival of ads in their Stories section.
With ads, Social Media (by way of Stories) and bots ready on both of Facebook’s chat platforms, the next step would be to include a payment system.
Mobile Payment 2.0
In case we have forgotten, a few years ago Facebook introduced a payment system only in the US and UK by collaborating with partners. Given the fact that the payment system didn’t reach our shores, we can safety surmise that it did not fare so well.
But the future of mobile payment isn’t in collaborations with other existing partners, rather creating one of their own. In Malaysia itself, a huge number of fintech firms have been fighting for their share to be the default national mobile wallet.
Just like most of the developed world, market share is still very fragmented and we are still unsure which will emerge victorious in the end. This is where Facebook can see an opportunity in this free-for-all state.
Although no circulation of such news has been ongoing as of this article, it is pretty definitive that Facebook will be looking forward to closing the loop come 2019.
Video is The Future
In fact, video is already the present. Among all the new models that Facebook has been pushing for the past year – Facebook Watch, Facebook Live, Facebook Stories, Instagram Stories, IGTV – none of them is specially built for images.
Just a few months ago in August 2018, it released a Video Creation Kit[5] that allow just about anybody to create moving images.
I initially thought it would be some incredibly awesome step for Facebook to encourage and ease video creation. But after tinkering with the feature a little, I found that its main use is to convert still images into colorful slideshows that transition around. Because like flies, humans are also attracted to flickering lights.
Conclusion
It appears, from the possible plans, that Facebook is looking to move us away from Newsfeed and into more temporary social presence. Perhaps now that Virality and Shareability becomes invalid, brands will finally succumb to creating honest and proper consumable content. If that is the case, may I suggest consuming Snapchat content to get a better idea on how to move forward.
It does remain somewhat unfortunate that such a novel and brilliant idea concocted by Snapchat could be their very undoing. “It’s more fun to be a pirate than to join the navy”, was a famous quote by Steve Jobs referring to the excitement of copying other people’s ideas.
Now even more than ever, Business schools all around the world will be using Facebook’s blatant piracy of Snapchat’s features as a model of success albeit a disgusting one.
[1] “These Are the Ads Russia Bought on Facebook in 2016 – The New ….” 1 Nov. 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/01/us/politics/russia-2016-election-facebook.html. Accessed 20 Nov. 2018.
[2] “Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal, explained … – Ars Technica.” 20 Mar. 2018, https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/03/facebooks-cambridge-analytica-scandal-explained/. Accessed 20 Nov. 2018.
[3] “As Facebook prioritizes Stories over Newsfeed, will advertisers follow ….” 13 Nov. 2018, https://marketingland.com/as-facebook-prioritizes-stories-over-newsfeed-will-advertisers-follow-suit-250953. Accessed 25 Nov. 2018.
[4] “WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton is leaving to start his own … – Recode.” 12 Sep. 2017, https://www.recode.net/2017/9/12/16298092/whatsapp-founder-brian-acton-leaving-facebook-foundation. Accessed 25 Nov. 2018.
[5] “Facebook rolls out mobile-first video creation tools … – Marketing Land.” 22 Aug. 2018, https://marketingland.com/facebook-rolls-out-mobile-first-video-creation-tools-for-advertisers-246577. Accessed 29 Nov. 2018.
