3 Major Changes Coming to Facebook in 2019

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Recently, Mark Zuckerberg confirmed that Facebook’s new vision for the future is privacy focused. In the past, the internet was a means for many of us to access the whole world and a global community of knowledge instantly that changed the way we connect with those around us. These connections are really cool, but social media is taking a turn toward the more intimate.

And Facebook is determined to take their platforms toward what users really need, even if it takes a few years. Mark compared it to the difference between a town square and a living room. The town square is fun, but we all need the more private living room to be ourselves. Unlocking the future of Facebook with a more private center means more intimate and secure experiences. The changes coming in 2019 reflect this shift in vision by Facebook.

Facebook is Becoming More Private

Facebook’s vision for a more private social media experience in the future is based on private interactions, end-to-end encryption, reducing permanence, safety, interoperability, and secure data storage. Facebook plans to create services around these principles and where necessary make huge changes to the infrastructure and operations at Facebook.

One of the steps they’re taking toward privacy is consulting with security professionals, law enforcement, and governments around the world about how to put in place security systems that will protect Facebook users and prevent abuse of the platform for nefarious purposes. That means Facebook wants to ensure their platforms are used for good.

This results in further limitations on the way Facebook developers and partners can access and use their data. Facebook has already rolled out some of these changes, and anyone using Facebook Advertising will have recognised the impact on their campaigns. At first, this may seem like a negative move for advertisers and companies on the platform, but Zuckerberg highlights the importance of trust in a consumer to brand relationship. Cultivating a more trustworthy user engagement will only benefit brands long-term.

Zhao also confirmed they have plans to ensure Huawei devices of the future remain as hot as ever in South Africa. Their phased approach includes two plans made to set Huawei users at rest. Their first priority will, according to Zhao, be to “continue to use the whole Android system and the whole Google ecosystem.”

Privacy and the Messenger App

Building a more private social media experience means that Facebook needs to deliver the best private messaging service possible for its users. Mark Zuckerberg confirmed that their goal is to create a private messaging experience that is the fastest, simplest, most reliable, and most secure messenger among the leading platforms in the world.

How? Well, they’ve been rewriting the whole thing and they’re introducing the new and improved messenger step by step. Their first roll-out was the new, simpler design. Next, their aim is to be the fastest by minimising the binary size. Their “lightspeed” messenger app version is two times faster with a seven times smaller binary size than other leading apps during the testing phase.

To improve the messenger reliability, they’ve built a new Desktop messenger app for Mac and Windows with video features. End-to-end encryption across all their messaging platforms is the goal, and reduced permanence becoming the norm to increase security and privacy.

Following the trend of more private message engagement to respond to stories than public engagement, Facebook is launching the “friends” tab in messenger and video chat. Changes on Facebook, Instagram, and Whatsapp are focused on enhanced privacy and security.

One of the cool features Mark announced is an easier way to send money on their platforms, as easy as sending a photo on Whatsapp! Even though we don’t have specific dates for the roll-out of these changes, we’re all excited for the new features to appear.

Privacy and Growing Online Community

Building private and public community spaces is a big focus for Facebook. Many of the changes they’re working towards are focused on providing ways for platform users to connect to communities that share their interests and values. Communities that can provide support, advice, and a togetherness not necessarily involving friends and family.

Community as a digital experience is a newer idea but an important change for the future of social media. Community provides a sense of purpose and a way to grow in the ways we each choose. Facebook wants to provide users with communities that are meaningful and beneficial to them.

Communities are not just about Facebook Groups; they also happen in games, events, dating, and more. This privacy and community focus is also influencing changes on Instagram. Stories and private interactions with businesses like payments are a bigger focus for future updates. You may have noticed some changes aimed at making communities more central on the Facebook app already

The Future Aesthetic of Facebook (it’s not Blue!

This new focus comes with a redesign of the Facebook app dubbed “FB5”. The redesign places communities centrally and the look and feel is cleaner and more aesthetically pleasing. It won’t even be blue anymore!

Along with the app redesign comes a website redesign to increase efficiency and the simple aesthetic of the site. The aesthetic changes will come along with a lot of big and small changes that will improve the Facebook experience for users like better group suggestions.

Zuckerberg said that this would be the biggest Facebook update in the last five years, and it even includes an update to the Facebook icon!

The future of Facebook is private, community-focused, and more aesthetic. We can’t wait to experience Facebook’s evolution towards more trustworthy platforms that offer engagement on a private and public level with family and friends, communities, brands and companies in a safe, secure, and reliable way.