Facebook’s unpredictable 2021: complaints from a former employee, the global crash and the metaverse

Facebook -now Meta- experienced an unprecedented global blackout of its main products (WhatsApp and Instagram) that plunged the group into a double crisis after the damning revelations of an ex-worker in early September, these events being the strongest that hit the company in an “unpredictable” year.

The US conglomerate of Mark Zuckerberg it lived through an annual cycle of roller coaster-style ups and downs that led to scandals and important future decisions.

Several events marked the year of Facebook, but the most outstanding are based on the complaints of a former employee, the global blackout and the arrival of the metaverse, which we will detail below.

1. The serious complaints against Facebook

Frances Haugen, a former Facebook employee, leaked several internal documents from Mark Zuckerberg’s company to The Wall Street Journal. Haugen revealed to the public that the company acts in a very different way from the discourse it officially maintains, which sparked a scandal for the social network.

Although the information published (produced from internal reports and presentations and online conversations between employees) does not necessarily imply that Facebook is committing any crime, it does show ethically questionable decisions and a prioritization of financial benefits over any moral objections.

The informer of these practices declared before the United States Senate at the beginning of September.

What did the Facebook documents reveal?

Broadly speaking, the documentation leaked to The Wall Street Journal shows that the executives of Facebook They know that the company’s platforms (Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, in addition to the social network itself) are, in many cases, harmful for users.

The element that generated the most outrage among the press and the networks is the investigations by the company itself that determine that Instagram is harmful for a part of its younger users, and especially “toxic” for teenage girls.

According to company reports, the photo social network “Aggravates” the problems that one in three girls have with their body image.

Another notable revelation is that algorithm changes carried out in 2018 under the pretext of “to get better” The platform had the opposite result and turned it into a more negative environment, promoting content that encouraged confrontation and discussion.

2. The worldwide downfall of Facebook

Facebook, one of the large social networks, suffered a massive interruption last September that potentially affected tens of millions of users, said a specialized web portal.

The Downdetector site showed outages in densely populated areas like Washington and Paris from early hours.

“Excuse me, something is wrong. We are working on it and we will solve it as soon as we can “, said a message received by users seeking to access Facebook.

“We know that many people have problems accessing our applications and products”the Facebook spokesperson said on Twitter.

The interruption came a day after Frances Haugen appeared on American television to reveal her identity as a former employee of the company after leaking documents to the authorities alleging that Facebook He knew his products were fueling hatred and damaging children’s mental health.

Why did the social network go down?

After several hours, Facebook indicated in a statement that the major disruption of its networks and messaging services was caused by a “Faulty configuration change” from its servers, which prevented users from accessing the platform.

“People and companies around the world depend on us to stay connected,” noted the group, which until now was virtually silent on the exceptional incident. “We present our apologies to those who were affected”added Facebook.

3. Welcome Metaverse

Mark Zuckerberg confirmed the name change of his company Facebook to Meta, marking the beginning of a new stage focused on the ‘metaverse’.

“Metaverse first, not Facebook first”Zuckerberg said at the Facebook Connect live event.

Meta It will be the parent company that encompasses brands Facebook (social network), WhatsApp and Instagram, in addition to other projects such as Quest, Messenger or Horizon.

Zuckerberg revealed the name change in the framework of the Connect conference on augmented reality and virtual reality, in which he again explained his vision of what the company has dubbed “metaverse”, a 100% digital parallel reality that it wants that Meta allocate a large part of your investments in the coming years.

The executive director of the company explained the two branches into which it will be divided, one that will encompass social applications (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger) and another the platforms of the future (metaverse and Quest). This also implies a change of identity, which translates into the new name of the company.

What advantages does the Metaverse offer?

Zuckerberg has argued that the metaverse will be beneficial to society, the economy and the environment. But it has highlighted the role that it will have especially in the economy, with the ecosystem of creating products, services and experiences that it will allow to create.

This ecosystem will maintain the approach it currently has Facebook with creators: offering them services and tools at the lowest cost, compared to other platforms, as the manager has pointed out. It will be accompanied by new forms of ownership.

The interaction with virtual objects or the voice to control the environment will allow to merge the physical world with the digital one. And for this, the company has announced new tools (SDK) so that developers can work on their mixed reality experiences for the metaverse. Community Spark AR It already has more than 600,000 creators.

The metaverse is a long-term project, but its development will depend on specific hardware designed for it. In this sense, the company has advanced Project Cambria, which will be compatible with Quest helmets and will allow the avatars to reproduce eye contact and expressions in real time thanks to the sensors it integrates. This equipment will display the image in high resolution and mixed reality.

Facebook’s price on the stock market after its fall

The fortune of Mark Zuckerberg it was reduced by about $ 5.9 billion after a bad session on Wall Street in which Facebook, affected by a scandal over its unethical practices and a worldwide interruption of its services, fell by about 4.9%.

According to Forbes figures, this decrease means that Zuckerberg’s fortune has been at 117,000 million dollars, which relegates him to the sixth place of the richest people in the world.

Bloomberg, for his part, estimates that the creator of Facebook now accumulates 121,000 million dollars, making him the fifth richest on the planet, behind Bill Gates.

Total, Facebook it lost more than 13% between August and September.