The impact of Mark Zuckerberg’s monolith empire can be felt by over 3.5 billion people around the world. That is half the world’s population and the sheer thought of that is staggering. The Facebook family of apps includes Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger and Oculus. This past week, there was a 5-hour blackout to which people took to alternative sites to communicate and for the most part, complain about said blackout.

 It got us wondering, however, what would happen if there was a permanent blackout and the Zuckerberg empire never came back online? 

The Cause 

Apparently, one of the engineers accidentally deleted router code. This basically means that there was an interruption of communication between the underlying infrastructure and data centers. If anyone tried to search for Facebook or any other platform in the Facebook family, you would most likely get a 404 Not Found error. Whether the breach was intentional or not, it made Zuckerberg lose all of $7 billion of his personal wealth in just 5 hours – not that it matters much to the sixth richest man in the world. This blackout comes on the heels of the news interview with whistleblower Frances Haugen, a former Facebook employee. She alleges that Facebook knowingly has put young people in harm’s way by intentionally allowing dangerous, hateful or misleading information. The timing of everything could be cause for questioning. 

The Impact 

So, half of the world’s population uses Facebook and its family of apps. Zuckerberg made sure to eliminate competition by buying up Instagram and WhatsApp – thus creating an interconnected world between the photo-sharing app, the messaging app and Facebook. We have individuals, families, causes, businesses, events and now even a payment platform. People rely on the platforms for their day-to-day activities. One such example was of a food delivery service in Dehli. He could no longer make deliveries to his customers because there was no way to communicate to them about their orders through Facebook or WhatsApp. In those 5 hours of the blackout, he lost money. Mark Zuckerberg was said to have lost $7billion of his $151billion which, in the grand scheme of things, he will live. But Facebook going dark for many others could mean the difference between being able to pay rent for the next month as they rely on the service for their businesses. It could mean loss of communication between loved ones or casual conversation with acquaintances.  

What If?

So what if the platform and all its integrations never came back online but were deleted forever? With its current embroilment with the law, and regulators threatening to further tighten its grip, Facebook’s future as we know it today could be in jeopardy anyway. The integration of the apps are so intertwined and convenient that we are left wondering if people would be more upset about the loss of convenience or if it would make a real impact. We apply sign into many third-party apps and platforms using Facebook, meaning if it goes down, so does our access. Facebook business manager, for example, has made it very easy for businesses large or small to advertise their businesses, reach audiences directly, and sell products. The platform has been able to facilitate the reunion of families and communication between loved ones. It has even launched some careers of influencers and celebrities. That being said, if Facebook were to disappear, there are a slew of other platforms that we could use with the exact same benefits. 

Messaging 

Telegram, for example, gained 70 million new users during the blackout. Telegram is often seen as the best alternative to WhatsApp for its ability to make messages disappear as well as being VPN proof. 

Business

While perhaps not the most intuitive app, LinkedIn has always been “The Business Platform”. It would not be a far-fetched idea to assume LinkedIn would pull up its socks and reach its full potential for businesses and individuals. 

Influencers 

We all know TikTok has surpassed Instagram by far in terms of it’s favoured platform for influencers. We highly doubt anyone would miss a beat on that front and perhaps, TikTok will be Instagram’s eventual downfall. 

Perhaps it’s not necessarily the fact that we rely on these platforms so heavily, it’s the convenience. The seamless (well not so much anymore it would seem) integration. I think we would survive and perhaps Facebook need not be so powerful anymore. 

What do you think? What would the world look like without the Zuckerberg empire? 

#FacebookBlackout #FacebookShutdown