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David Marcus Leaves Messenger to Focus on Blockchain Within Facebook
- blindwatchmaker 8y agoHas Messenger caught up to (or aiming to catch up to) wechat in terms of functionality and scope yet? I remember a lot of hubub about bots and conversational commerce.
- deft 8y agoWhat purpose does a company with a centralized service have for "blockchain". Apparently even tech leaders have no idea what they're talking about.
- matchagaucho 8y agoApparently blockchain related job titles are the modern day equivalent of "Special Projects"... a vesting, semi-working responsibility. </sarcasm>
- gremlinsinc 8y agoMark pegs himself as altruistic and wants to 'change the world', he's also a proponent of guaranteed basic income... I'd like to see blockchain used as a sort of gbi dole system, but it'd need to use reputation / social network effects in order to block 'sybil attacks', ie the bigger your score the more people have 'vouched' you're a real person not a bot or spammer, the more you get out of the daily dole. They also have marketplaces/ads/etc that they could make required to use fbcoin, in order to prop up the currencies prices... Just speculation obviously, lots of others are trying to figure out a way to do this, but the imposter thing is very real and hard to stop obviously in crypto.
- kd5bjo 8y agoUsing a CA instead of proof-of-work, I could see the underlying concept being useful in chain-of-custody type applications or limiting the attack surface of a compromised server.
- throwawayjava 8y agoRight. When "Enterprise" says "blockchain", what they mean is some combination of cryptography, an immutable database, and data/control/access/ownership flow logging. Sometimes also a financial product. I think this word is now like "hacker" or "AI". It's not completely meaningless -- it does have a kinda-sorta fuzzy meaning. But that meaning is different from what techincal experts mean when using the term and is very much audience dependent.
- MichaelGG 8y agoThat's just misusing the word blockchain. Like saying "cloud server" for "hosting" when there is nothing cloud about it. Using digital signatures in a chain is not a novel idea. Without PoW you do not need the block part, just records.
- JumpCrisscross 8y ago> What purpose does a company with a centralized service have for "blockchain" Platform was marketed as an open marketplace. Once it was sufficiently powerful, Facebook showed its proprietary intent and closed the gates. Same happened with Microsoft. And Twitter. And countless others. Blockchain is just the newest tool for selling proprietary systems as open utopias.
- at-fates-hands 8y agoThey have a lot of things they can do 1. crypto currencies and P2P payments 2. Take clues from Steemit (a decentralized social platform that runs on blockchain) and how they utilize blockchain 3. Use to combat censorship in countries that are not favorable to Facebook 4. Use BC to combat fake news 5. AI platforms 6. Streaming services Just because they have a centralized service doesn't mean they can use some of their considerable capital and branch out into other areas and offerings. To think FB will always be a social media platform is kind of. . .myopic wouldn't you say?
- hk__2 8y ago> 4. Use BC to combat fake news > 5. AI platforms > 6. Streaming services I fail to see how any of those has anything to do with the blockchain.
- Mithorium 8y agoThis reminds me of "lets do x, except in THE CLOUD" all over again. fight censorship by putting things in THE CLOUD where it can't easily be blocked, stream video from THE CLOUD wasn't "the cloud" supposed to do decentralization too? hmm
- bduerst 8y agoThe "Cloud" was at least about economies of scale (switching on-prem -> cloud has some potential cost savings). I'm not sure re-implementing on a blockchain has the same effect, unless they're farming processing out to third-party actors at no cost somehow.
- asdsa5325 8y agoThey don't have anything to do with it. He's just throwing out buzzwords, no clue what he's saying.
- vertexFarm 8y agoYou're not allowed to mention blockchain without tying in AI, possibly VR or AR as well. It's the law.
- product50 8y agoThis is what you think today. Tomorrow, when new apps are developed by FB via blockchain, you'd be like that seemed so obvious in the hindsight. We are early on blockchain - there are a lot of hidden use cases and apps waiting to be built.
- jonny_eh 8y ago> there are a lot of hidden use cases Not much different from no use cases, at least from where I'm standing. People compare this to the early 90s of the internet, except even then early internet was EXTREMELY useful, even with the limited access and content.
- ShabbosGoy 8y agoThe early internet was extremely useful for getting credit card numbers and warez/serials/cracking tools. It would seem we have come full circle.
- product50 8y agoWait and watch. You will most likely have to eat your words. Most people are like you - they think they know a lot and are not open to the possibility how technology can evolve and new use cases can emerge.
- Trundle 8y agoIf theyre hidden, how do you know they're there?
- kamaal 8y agoNot sure your what use cases you claim that we haven't discovered yet. Lists/Linked-Lists data structures with locks and priorities go back to the dawn of computing.
- product50 8y agoWait and watch. You will most likely have to eat your words. Most people are like you - they think they know a lot and are not open to the possibility how technology can evolve and new use cases can emerge.
- bigiain 8y agoYou're assuming that "a new effort to tackle blockchain technology" (from the recode article) means "use a blockchain" rather than "surveil and monetize The Blockchain"... How much would you bet against Facebook attempting to link Bitcoin/BitcoinCash/Etherium wallet addresses to individuals and tracking cryptocurrenct transactions as part of your profile? https://www.recode.net/2018/5/8/17330226/facebook-reorg-mark-zuckerberg-whatsapp-messenger-ceo-blockchain https://www.recode.net/2018/5/8/17330226/facebook-reorg-mark...
- lainga 8y agoNote: this is the former PayPal president, not Carol Marcus' son.
- pavlov 8y agoThat gives a whole new meaning to "genesis block".
- polynomial 8y agoUnderrated comment.
- throwaway84742 8y agoWho is “David Marcus” and why should anybody care?
- baoha 8y agoDefinitely not the loser who used a throwaway account
- bertil 8y agoDavid Marcus was a senior executive at PayPal and was poached to lead Messenger. This move showed that Facebook was serious when they meant that Messenger will be a standalone project, with its own features, strategy, etc. and would have a different app, a different social graph than Facebook. He’s among top 30 people you should know if you care about movers and shakers in the Silicon Valley — and probably the most influential French person on that list, with Yann LeCun. He’s a key player at Facebook and this is a surprising move. I care because I care about the company, but I agree with you that for non-Facebook-Kremlinologists, it’s minor news.
- throwaway84742 8y agoThanks for the explanation. I know a bit of Google Kremlinology, but FB is almost completely opaque to me, even though I’m a shareholder.
- bertil 8y agoThere was a big shake-up announced yesterday and this is one of the best cover: https://www.recode.net/2018/5/8/17330226/facebook-reorg-mark-zuckerberg-whatsapp-messenger-ceo-blockchain https://www.recode.net/2018/5/8/17330226/facebook-reorg-mark... Happy to provide some confirmation and context -- but where I think Facebook is remarkable (not unlike Google) is that internal management systems allow such a major change to be mostly painless. And, yes, I should have included Jérôme Pesenti to the list of influential French people at Facebook: he replaced Yann LeCun as the manager of Facebook AI Research, because Yann is a researcher, happy to manage a dozen post docs, not someone who wants to manage a team of hundreds of researchers.
- baxtr 8y agoSomehow I’m missing AI in the equation (and in his new title). I think Blockchain based AI will solve all remaining puzzles out there
- vertexFarm 8y agoHow do you figure?
- bertil 8y agoI am the first person to admire the solution to Byzantine Generals but to wonder what Blockchain can do that a centralised system can. However, Marcus knows that very well -- so I suspect the move corresponds to a core strategic shift for the company. Some use cases that would make sense: - allow Facebook users to pay each other using BitCoin & Co.(certainly the key feature as Messenger killer and under-utilised feature is its payment option, and Markus’ past at PayPal) - allow Ethereum & Co. to leverage Facebook Identity (for instance, define “someone” as an active Facebook account with at least 50 active friends, the way I believe Tinder does) for their contracts; - find a way to run a Facebook-compatible version of Mastodon/Diaspora/etc. off Smart contracts, allowing privacy-conscious individuals to host their social media-like experience on a platform compatible with Facebook but without a identifiable central repository or hard to maintain decentralised structure. Only the last one is something that would make Marcus excited enough to leave Messenger. The first one is a Hackathon idea, the second probably a project that makes sense once Ethereum (for all its merits) has more compelling use case than a cat-collectibles to its name.
- icebraining 8y agoI don't see how the cryptocurrencies make sense for (1). If you're going to trust FB anyway, might as well use Facebook Credits, which are much cheaper to run and are already partially integrated into the platform.
- bertil 8y agoI don’t think of Bitcoin as an alternative to trusting Facebook, just another currency. That project would be akin to being paid in foreign currency transparently.
- icebraining 8y agoFair enough. What's in it for FB, then?
- aerique 8y ago
- kunle 8y agoFacebook will buy Coinbase within the next 18 months.
- paulsutter 8y agoThis article is vastly more informative: https://www.recode.net/2018/5/8/17330226/facebook-reorg-mark-zuckerberg-whatsapp-messenger-ceo-blockchain https://www.recode.net/2018/5/8/17330226/facebook-reorg-mark... This is part of a major reorg. David is on the board of Coinbase, which could explain his interest, but by any reading he’s getting much less responsibility (going from 1B daily actives to 0)
- product50 8y agoThese guys don't think like that. They think about the future - not the past. By any means, David Marcus was killing it at Messenger.
- WisNorCan 8y agoI remember a presentation where he shared that messaging will become the primary way we get information and transact. Rather than going to Amazon - you could just tell a chat bot to buy you a book. I don’t think the vision has come true at all.
- solaarphunk 8y agoI always got the sense that they were always just trying to copy wechat and were envious of all the commerce it captured.
- escap 8y agoyou mean like "Hey Alexa, order me this book ?"
- WisNorCan 8y agoI mean like "Hey Facebook Messenger, order me this book". The vision was about bypassing Amazon (and the Internet) and having Messenger at the heart of commerce.
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- kerng 8y agoFacebook working on a blockchain project sounds as much in the public interest as Microsoft in the mid 90s trying to build MSN, their own version of the WWW.
- Steeeve 8y agoAs if Facebook wasn't already eating more than it's share of battery life.
- wepple 8y agoI read this as a metaphor and it seemed quite apt.
- chickenfries 8y agoI remember when I interned for PayPal, one of my first exposures to corporate communication was an all company email from David Marcus, where he mentioned that he had seen PayPal employees not paying with PayPal at places on the corporate campus that accepted PayPal, and he suggested that they should find other jobs.
- dvdhnt 8y agoWell, that’s not very good leadership. You shouldn’t be pressuring your employees into using your preferred payment provider or financial institution.
- rokhayakebe 8y agoWell you would think your employees using a different service tells you more about your product than them. What a lost opportunity to learn.
- mandeepj 8y ago> preferred payment provider This was not about a payment provider. It was about their employer. If you can't promote your own product then Marcus was right - go find something else to do
- lotsofpulp 8y agoOr you could try to make a better product.
- asdsa5325 8y agoUsing a product is not "promoting" it. If it's easier to use a different payment method, then why use PayPal? Maybe that's a sign they should create a better product, instead of blaming employees
- hackinthebochs 8y agoNo, you blame the employees for not suffering their own product and raising ideas and tickets for how to fix it. It would be like John Carmack using the Vive instead of the Oculus Rift at home because its better. When you create the product there's no excuse to not be eating your own dogfood.
- bigiain 8y agoSo the head of "encrypted messaging" at Facebook is now on a "this will go down on your permanent blockchain record" project. WCPGW???
- jameslevy 8y agoThe best way to think of this may be that Mark and the executives at FB are like a VC firm funding a new skunkworks project in a high-risk, high-reward category. Let's say there is a 10% chance that blockchain ends up being incredibly relevant to the future of social networks. It would make sense for FB to make what amounts to a seed investment in the space, knowing that it could very likely not amount to anything.
- debt 8y agoSeems him and Jan were at odds about how to integrate Messenger with WhatsApp. Jan leaves with some bombastic statement seeming to indicate he’s gonna go start a new messaging venture. Now the head of Facebook’s other messaging property leaves less than a month a later for a crypto startup.
- lazzlazzlazz 8y agoCrypto startup? The new blockchain-related role is within Facebook.
- debt 8y agoAh yeah you're right. Leads me to believe Marcus is trying to undermine Yan's new venture; whatever that will be. Those guys did not like each other.
- canistr 8y agoWhat you have to understand is that Facebook is effectively the defacto global identity system. Russian bots and astroturfing aside, it's still the most widely used and deployed identity verification service around that is borderless and not government controlled. Yes, they don't have penetration in every country in the world (i.e. in China). But they effectively own identity services in the Western world. For blockchains, one of the key gaps in adoption is validating and verifying real users. If I'm one of the blockchain startups doing identity verification such as Civic or Status, I'd be very worried right now that the 500 pound gorilla is getting into the game.
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