Last week, the founders of Instagram quit Facebook.
In 2012, Facebook bought the popular photo-sharing platform for $1 billion. It was a move that paid off for both parties as Instagram soon surpassed a billion users and allowed business to advertise on Instagram’s platform.
But despite that, the founders of Instagram seemingly had enough of the company’s internal meddling and decided to take off.
Interestingly enough, the co-founder of Whatsapp (another company which Facebook purchased) also decided that he had enough of Facebook and resigned as well. To make matters worse, he posted a message on Twitter telling people to delete Facebook in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
It is time. #deletefacebook
— Brian Acton (@brianacton) March 20, 2018
So with the Whatsapp co-founder as well as the Instagram founders leaving Facebook because of internal struggles as well as the recent devastating news of the data breach of Facebook, you have to ask: Is it to delete Facebook?
Creating A Monster
Facebook has become a juggernaut. The company reportedly has 2.23 billion monthly active users on its platform. The company has also diversified by buying Instagram, Whatsapp and the VR company Oculus.
But the company might have gotten a little too big for its own good.
Following the successful integration of “Stories” on Instagram, the company decided to duplicate the “Stories” feature on its main platform and WhatsApp as well.
But there’s a reason why Facebook wants to incorporate stories into WhatsApp: Because they want to serve you ads.
In an interview with the co-founder of WhatsApp, there was pressure to monetize WhatsApp. He said that Facebook wanted to show targeted ads in WhatsApp’s new Status feature, which he felt broke a social compact with its users.
“Targeted advertising is what makes me unhappy“, he said.
So will you be seeing ads in WhatsApp? The answer, unfortunately, is yes. Facebook plans to show ads to users on WhatsApp next year.
Facebook makes money from advertising. The more ads they can serve users, the more money they make.
But how much advertising can users take? Facebook users already say how creepy it is that they visit a website, afterward go on Facebook and see ads about products from the website they just visited. And now they’re going to see ads when they on their favorite messaging platform? Sounds like a bad deal.
What Have You Done With My Data
The recent news of Facebook data breach should scare you. Facebook reported that the security hack currently affects 50 million users. But honestly, it looks like it’s much worse than that.
Not only can comprised accounts allow hackers to access your personal data but they are also able to gain control of accounts on many other sites because users often log into them with Facebook credentials.
Think about all the apps that you use to log in with Facebook on your phone. Go ahead. Just check right now.
Does it scare you? It should.
Just like the Cambridge Analytica scandal, this access and misuse of your data by third parties seem to be widespread.
Third party apps were reportedly sharing your data with advertisers long before the Cambridge saga.
With all this in mind, do you still trust Facebook?
Time To Delete Your Facebook Account?
I’ll be honest in saying that my activity on Facebook is very minimal. Tech Nova has a Facebook account but it’s really just to increase its presence.
It is getting a bit concerning when it comes to data. When Facebook bought WhatsApp, I was concerned about what that meant. When I’m reading quotes from the co-founder of WhatsApp that Facebook wanted to get around the end-to-end encryption because they wanted to serve ads, it started to raise red flags for me.
I understand Facebook is a business and they want to make money but there are certain lines they’re currently tiptoeing around.
When I first joined Facebook, it was to connect with friends in different countries and stay in touch.
Now with the Instagram co-founders gone, I’m now concerned with how Facebook is going to run Instagram now.
Right now, my personal Facebook account is still active. But I doubt it will be there for the long-term. At the end of the Facebook, I’m likely to officially delete my Facebook account.
Facebook had its chance to redeem itself about its previous scandals. But after all recent events that have unfolded, I’m not so sure anymore.
