Facebook’ s pivot to privacy

Fully Charged From     FOLLOW US SUBSCRIBE   Hey there it's Kurt, Bloomberg's new social media reporter (and first time Fully Charged contributor). I've been thinking a lot lately about Facebook's recently announced pivot to privacy -- a companywide edict to focus on ephemeral posts like Stories, smaller communities like groups, and improve encryption for the company's messaging products. In March, Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said that private communication is the future, and Facebook is now running full speed into its arms.  It's a smart approach. Facebook has discovered that people don't want to share all of their thoughts and photos with their entire social graph. It's essentially admitting that the pendulum has swung too far: Folks who have spent the past decade sharing their lives publicly with the world now want to share their lives with a much smaller version of it. On Monday, though, I was reminded of why Facebook is doing this, and I'm not sure it has anything to do with privacy. At Recode's annual Code Conference, Instagram boss Adam Mosseri outlined the motivation behind the change.  "All the growth right now, really, in most of the world, is in Stories and is in messaging," he said. It was almost the same thing Zuckerberg wrote about the change in March. "Private messaging, ephemeral stories, and small groups are by far the fastest growing areas of online communication," he wrote.  In other words, Facebook is making this change because users want more intimacy, and while privacy is a useful buzzword for Facebook to associate with today, it's not the kind of privacy that people are clamoring for. Most of Facebook's issues over the past two years have had very little to do with its inability to offer people secure, private communication, and almost everything to do with its inability to protect the personal information its users entrust the company to defend. Facebook users aren't demanding more encryption -- they're demanding more accountability. It doesn't sound like this move toward more private messaging will change the amount of data Facebook collects about people. In fact, somewhat ironically, the contents of your private messages are one of the very few bits of personal information Facebook doesn't use to target you with ads.  Which is all to say that Facebook's pivot to privacy feels like a solution to a problem Facebook doesn't really have. Encrypted messages may indeed be better for users -- they just don't solve Facebook's privacy woes. -- Kurt Wagner   Here's what you need to know in global technology news Speaking of Facebook and privacy, the company announced a new research program to better monitor the apps people have on their phone. Facebook says program participants will be compensated, but wouldn't say how much.  In case the U.S.-China trade war gets even uglier, Apple's manufacturing partner Foxconn says it can produce enough iPhones outside of China to at least meet demands for U.S. consumers. For now, production in China is still business as usual.  Uber has a vision that flying cars will help alleviate some congestion problems. It hopes that regulators like that idea, too.  Internal figures from Juul show the e-cigarette company is still booming despite a dip in sales last fall after the company stopped selling some flavored vape options. A letter to investors showed Juul's Q1 sales were up 23% quarter-over-quarter to $523 million.    You received this message because you are subscribed to the Bloomberg Technology newsletter Fully Charged. You can tell your friends to sign up here.   Unsubscribe | Bloomberg.com | Contact Us Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022