Inside Facebook’s 10-Year Master Plan [Infographic]

Bob Hutchins — May 11, 2017 Follow @Bobhutchins

— May 11, 2017

Do you know about Facebook’s 10-year master plan?

Most people don’t.

But understanding the basic outline of Facebook’s plan can be a major advantage for marketers who are playing the long game.

You see, most businesses are so focused on day-to-day operations and Facebook’s last feature launch that they aren’t able to strategically plan for their business’s future with the advertising giant.

And we get it!

It’s hard enough as it is to stay on top of Facebook’s most recent advertising developments. So, if you don’t have all the time in the world to take a deep dive into this topic (and who does?), a new infographic (via Futurism) wraps it up neatly…

Facebook’s 10-Year Master Plan

First, it’s important to understand that Mark Zuckerberg’s main focus is “building the technology to give anyone the power to share anything they want with anyone else.” That’s a big task. But if anyone’s up to it, it’s Zuckerberg and his team.

This goal is achieved through:

• Ecosystems (Facebook)
• Products (Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, etc.)
• Technologies (Connectivity efforts, such as drones and satellites; AI efforts, such as vision and language tools; VR/AR efforts, such as Rift and other technologies)

What Facebook’s Done In the Last Year

Over the last year, Facebook’s introduced a number of new products and technologies, including:

• Messenger Bots
• Live API
• Facebook Surround 360, a 360-degree camera system that uses 17 lenses and produces spherical footage in 3D. The designs will be shared to the public for free.
• Profile Expression Kit, which allows third-party apps to create fun and personality-infused profile videos.
• Save Button, which lets people save interesting articles, products, videos and more from around the web into their FB Saved folder.

In the Next Three Years…

We can expect to see the Facebook platform grow and improve, extending its presence in underserved regions and developing countries and building up its cloud infrastructure.

In the Next Five Years…

Facebook will focus on improving apps and services while also offering developers the tools to grow an entire ecosystem around each of these apps for better monetization opportunities.

Within a Decade…

Facebook will focus on:

• Connectivity
  • Releasing a simulator for its Free Basics program to provide people with access to useful services on websites without data charge.
  • Building solar powered drones to beam internet access to earth.
  • Launching a satellite to provide internet access for Africa.
  • Creating new hardware that will boost access in urban areas.
• Artificial Intelligence
  • To enable FB to learn content – e.g. being able to read a video and understand what it’s about.
  • Taking advantage of AI technology to save people’s lives.
  • Training neural networks through FB’s open source Torch system.
• Virtual/Augmented Reality
  • VR efforts began with the purchase of Oculus company in 2014 and the release of Oculus products in 2016.
  • Future headsets would be like a normal pair of glasses that can handle both VR and AR.
  • Working on new social experiences with VR as a social platform.

Check out the full infographic below for more information.

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