Over the years, Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of some of the most popular social networking apps in the world, has had a special fondness for private messaging. After all, he paid $19 billion for WhatsApp back in 2014.

Now, Facebook messenger has grown over the years with over 1.3 billion users. On Wednesday, 6th March 2019, Zuckerberg said that private messaging was the future of Facebook.

In a lengthy statement titled A Privacy-Focused Vision For Social Networking, Zuckerberg explained that private messaging will soon be the most popular way that people interact on Facebook. He explained that he believes the future of the internet is a “privacy-focused communications platform.”

“I expect future versions of Messenger and WhatsApp to become the main ways people communicate on the Facebook network.”

He added:

“As I think about the future of the internet, I believe a privacy-focused communications platform will become even more important than today’s open platforms.”

The founder added that people are now more cautious about having a permanent record of what they’ve shared. He believes the future of communication will increasingly shift to private, encrypted services where people can be confident that what they say to each other stays secure and their messages and content won’t stick around forever.

This statement comes in the wake of Facebook being under investigation for issues related to its privacy practices. User data was stolen and shared in ways Facebook and its users did not envisage.

Zuckerberg making these declarations at this time is interesting because the core of Facebook and Instagram is not centred around messaging but the direct opposite of what he says is the future of the company.  People and brands use these social networking sites to publicise themselves.

Zuckerberg, however, admitted that his focus on private communication may strike some as ironic and this future might take time. It does seem like he is more particular about privacy and that does not come as a surprise, seeing as it is one of the major issues Facebook has had over the years.