Facebook announced Friday that it would be testing out a “secret conversation” feature on its Messenger app, a service that The New York Times reports will use end-to-end encryption that limits accessibility to the chat on the two mobile devices involved. Despite falling short of WhatsApp’s level of native security, which Facebook also owns, Facebook hopes to increase Messenger’s viability in the market.
“The fact that we have 1.65 billion people on Facebook already makes Messenger the best live, self-updating address book in the world. Because of the scale of our network, I feel like we really have a shot at this.” – David Marcus of Facebook Messenger
Despite Messenger’s expansive base of users, it has yet to earn a profit for Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg has publicly stated that he does not attempt to earn revenue on a service until it has reached a billion users.
Facebook hopes to attract a new era of conversations through their Messenger app as they roll out new levels of encryption. If someone was unsure about sending over personal information over the app, say, the new secret feature would allow them to make their message disappear after a certain amount of time. This could lead to more direct communication with customer service representatives and other bodies.
Source: The New York Times
