Facebook has been involved in a lot of scandals the past year. The fact that the company owns numerous other social media apps was a cause of concern among many users. And it appears that they had a right to be skeptical.
Facebook took another controversial decision. The company decided to integrate Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger. This means that you will be able to send messages without switching apps. You could even send a message to an Instagram user for instance, despite the fact that you do not have an account.
“We’re working on making more of our messaging products end-to-end encrypted and considering ways to make it easier to reach friends and family across networks,” declared the company.
Reactions
Most users were not happy at all when they heard the news. Knowing Facebook’s issue with security and privacy, we can only worry that the other apps will become more invasive as well.
For example, WhatsApp comes with end-to-end encryption which protects our messages. However, if Facebook decides to integrate it we don’t know whether end-to-end encryption will be used for Instagram ans Messenger as well, or removed from WhatsApp, which would be a huge mistake.
However, some experts seemed to approve this idea. Here is what expert Michael Pachter from Wedbush Securities had to say:
It’s an interesting issue, since users aren’t really asking for integration, but Facebook recognizes that by integrating the products, they facilitate greater communication/interaction among their user base.
I personally think it’s a great idea, but am not sure there is any immediate impact on revenues or profits.
The integration is likely going to roll out in a year or so, and we will have to see how smoothly it goes before understanding the potential for monetization.
The change is supposed to become available around 2020.
Nora Reynolds is a major in biology and a minor in Biological Basis of Behavior, writing about science in general. She also likes to try new gadgets and sports about the AI new era.