Zuckerberg decided to merge Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg decided to technologically combine Facebook Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp, writes The New York Times.

More. We are talking about the transfer of all Facebook messengers to a single platform.

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• Individual applications will remain, but the technological infrastructure will unite 2.6 billion users. As of December 2018, at least 1.5 billion people used WhatsApp every month, 1.3 billion people used Facebook Messenger, and 1 billion people used Instagram (in its entirety, excluding Direct messenger).
• The new technological platform will make it fundamentally possible for users of the three messengers to communicate with each other.
• All three messengers implement end-to-end encryption (which is already available to WhatsApp users).
• Implementing the plan will require the efforts of thousands of Facebook employees and a redesign of all three products at the most basic level.
• Platform integration is in its earliest stages, but is expected to be completed in late 2019 or early 2020.
• The idea of ​​integration belongs to Zuckerberg himself and met with resistance from employees, especially at WhatsApp, which traditionally enjoys wide autonomy.

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Context. This is not the first attempt to unify the infrastructures of Facebook-owned products.

• Facebook is now making significant efforts to monetize its acquisitions.
• The company previously combined the advertising capabilities of Facebook and Instagram, acquired for $ 1 billion, but so far the Instagram Direct messenger does not earn anything.
• WhatsApp, which spent $19 billion on it, is still making little money compared to its $19 billion parent company.
• The new plan will also strengthen the position of Facebook Marketplace, a free classifieds service popular in Southeast Asia and several other regions outside the United States.

Alexander Amzin