Privacy, hidden likes & dating your mates!
San Jose, California. CEO Mark Zuckerberg announces significant changes to Facebook & Instagram at ‘F8’ – Facebook’s largest yearly event on Tuesday. These changes will reduce the time people spend on social platforms, could result in more people getting ‘close’ to their friends and may even help with cyber bullying and self esteem issues.
Secret Crush – using your social network to find a partner, thus competing with Tinder. “You can nominate 10 ‘friends’ you have a crush on, and if the feeling is mutual, you’ll be notified! Talk about the bringing to life the notion of friends with benefits!” Atkins says. “Gone are the days of randomly meeting your prospective partner in an actual physical situation like a bar, club or whilst walking your dog! Now you can tell Facebook which of your friends you’d like to get a little ‘closer’ to, and if they reciprocate, off you go!” says Atkins. “I’m almost certain we will see relationships start, evolve and end without actually touching someone… think Virtual Reality partners. It’s a scary notion, but certainly possible as artificial intelligence, VR and social platforms continue to develop.
Privacy – “As the world gets larger and more connected, we need a sense of intimacy more than ever,” Zuckerberg explains, “so that’s why I believe the future is private”.
Zuckerberg goes on the describe social feeds as needing to become the digital equivalent of the living room rather than the town square.
“These changes may result in users spending less time on Insta and Facebook – wading through irrelevant content takes time. Spending time in relevant groups, engaging in more meaningful conversations and engagements could reduce wasting time with ‘social browsing’ and this is a positive step” Atkins explains.
“With Instagram removing the ‘like’ tally, I hope young people will focus on engaging in positive conversations rather than trying to ‘one up’ each other with daring, racy and dangerous content, which can result in negative self-esteem, safety and cyber – bullying issues” says Atkins
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