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Eugene

(61,900 posts)
Sat Jan 26, 2019, 04:32 AM Jan 2019

Facebook to integrate WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger

Source: BBC

Facebook to integrate WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger

25 January 2019

Facebook plans to integrate its messaging services on Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.

While all three will remain stand-alone apps, at a much deeper level they will be linked so messages can travel between the different services.

Facebook told the BBC it was at the start of a "long process".

The plan was first reported in the New York Times and is believed to be a personal project of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

Once complete, the merger would mean that a Facebook user could communicate directly with someone who only has a WhatsApp account. This is currently impossible as the applications have no common core.

The work to merge the three elements has already begun, reported the NYT, and is expected to be completed by the end of 2019 or early next year.


https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-47001460

______________________________________________________________________

Source: New York Times

Zuckerberg Plans to Integrate WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook Messenger

By Mike Isaac
Jan. 25, 2019

SAN FRANCISCO — Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, plans to integrate the social network’s messaging services — WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook Messenger — asserting his control over the company’s sprawling divisions at a time when its business has been battered by scandal.

The services will continue to operate as stand-alone apps, but their underlying technical infrastructure will be unified, said four people involved in the effort. That will bring together three of the world’s largest messaging networks, which between them have more than 2.6 billion users, allowing people to communicate across the platforms for the first time.

The move has the potential to redefine how billions of people use the apps to connect with one another while strengthening Facebook’s grip on users, raising antitrust, privacy and security questions. It also underscores how Mr. Zuckerberg is imposing his authority over units he once vowed to leave alone.

The plan — which is in the early stages, with a goal of completion by the end of this year or early 2020 — requires thousands of Facebook employees to reconfigure how WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook Messenger function at their most basic levels, said the people involved in the effort, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the matter is confidential.

-snip-


Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/25/technology/facebook-instagram-whatsapp-messenger.html
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Facebook to integrate WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger (Original Post) Eugene Jan 2019 OP
K & R canetoad Jan 2019 #1
I guess I'll never use Whatsapp again. I wouldn't touch facebook with a ten foot pole. Squinch Jan 2019 #2
If you value your privacy, you must not install any of these apps. earthshine Jan 2019 #3
Not worried SirElaih Jan 2019 #4

canetoad

(17,168 posts)
1. K & R
Sat Jan 26, 2019, 04:36 AM
Jan 2019

But ultimately pointless to try to warn folk of the dangers of the big internet companies.

Thanks for posting.

Squinch

(50,955 posts)
2. I guess I'll never use Whatsapp again. I wouldn't touch facebook with a ten foot pole.
Sat Jan 26, 2019, 07:18 AM
Jan 2019

Never have. Never missed it.

 

earthshine

(1,642 posts)
3. If you value your privacy, you must not install any of these apps.
Sat Jan 26, 2019, 10:40 PM
Jan 2019

They will track you even if not the ap is not active.

Do not install!

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