In a Facebook post today, Mark Zuckerberg has addressed blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies for the first time. In the post, he directly links the idea of decentralization to Facebook itself, which has resulted in some speculation that a blockchain future could lie ahead for the world’s largest social network.

The Post

Zuckerberg’s post addresses his personal challenges for 2018. He starts off by saying,

The world feels anxious and divided, and Facebook has a lot of work to do — whether it’s protecting our community from abuse and hate, defending against interference by nation states, or making sure that time spent on Facebook is time well spent.

He then goes on to link decentralization to Facebook more explicitly:

one of the most interesting questions in technology right now is about centralization vs decentralization. A lot of us got into technology because we believe it can be a decentralizing force that puts more power in people’s hands. (The first four words of Facebook’s mission have always been “give people the power”.)

The post has caused speculation online, with Alec Muffett being among the first to comment:

Mark Zuckerberg considering putting Facebook onto the #blockchain to make it more distributed and to improve the #cyber: https://t.co/RpIAH8ktgU pic.twitter.com/tKl7vDcEeU — Alec Muffett (@AlecMuffett) January 4, 2018

A Mission for Acceptance?

There is no doubt that Facebook’s ratings have suffered a hit of late. The “Russia Scandal” in which 10 million US citizens saw politically divisive Russian ads last year, in the wake of the ongoing US election investigation, has seen widespread criticism of the safety and security of the social media platform. This has been recently demonstrated on CB Insights’ Twitter page. A poll showed that 59% of people predict that Facebook will be seen as a net negative for society in a decade’s time. This is compared with only 4% for Google, for example.

In 10 years, which company will we say was a NET NEGATIVE for society? The results are pretty overwhelming here. @facebook "wins" #tech #technology #BlackMirror pic.twitter.com/1TVy6gvVAH — CB Insights (@CBinsights) January 2, 2018

A move to put Facebook on the blockchain could see a level of trust restored, with the underlying technology for cryptocurrencies having received so much attention in 2017 for its exceptional levels of security, and decentralized platform.

Would a move to put Facebook on the blockchain restore your faith in the platform? Do you think this will be a trend for large companies? Let us know your thoughts.