<center>![Light Bulb pexels-photo-355988.jpeg](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmZqHjM1Rmy82Dz8RpTKjjmkgnVsfgCEwJ6r1rJpEaTY7H)
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<div class=text-justify>One of the things I have always enjoyed doing is listen to or read through the Earnings Conference Calls of Companies that have influence in the sectors where I invest or where there may be an influence on future opportunities.  One of those companies that I follow is Facebook as I actually participated in their IPO years ago and have been accustomed to reading through their reports despite nor longer having a position.  I mostly do it to gain an understanding on social media in general considering the implications that their strategies may have on Steem and now even blockchain and cryptocurrencies in general.<p>

I have not been able to do this as of late as it has been busy for me this year but I have saved most of these in my pack of “things to read” that I accumulate for travel.  I have been so delayed that I had the past two quarters for Facebook to review! I started with Facebook as they have been talking more as of late regarding things that have implications for my interests in Steem and cryptocurrencies.  For example, they have continued to mention their focus on implementing a payments network to transact using their applications.  While not mentioned in the calls, it seems that they will deploying blockchain technology for this initiative.

>Sure. Across the – commerce and payments are an area that I'm quite focused on and optimistic about across all of our different services. So in Instagram and Facebook, you have shopping, and you have Marketplace and you have all the tens of millions of small businesses that use pages and a lot that use Instagram for sharing their inventory and being able to help people discover and pay.
Through messaging specifically, I'm more optimistic because of the private nature of this space, right? It feels – when you're using a messaging service, that everything there is very intimate and private so it feels like a more natural space to be interacting with a business in a private way for doing transactions.
So I think what we're going to end up seeing is building out Payments, which is going to end up being something that we do country-by-country – we have a test that is running in India for WhatsApp now, we're hoping to launch in several other countries at some point, but I don't want to put a timeframe on that here, but it's something that we're actively working on.
And the goal would be to have something where you can do discovery through the broader town square-like platforms in Instagram and Facebook. And then you can complete the transactions and follow up with businesses individually and have an ongoing relationship through Messenger and WhatsApp. -Mark Zuckerberg

Similar to what other centralized companies have been considering, it seems as if they are mostly considering an asset that is pegged to a currency called Stablecoins.  So while it is not the typenof asset you would buy to invest, it has similar properties that will introduce the asset class to potentially billions of users which now surpass 2.7 billion on the Facebook ecosystem of apps.  While I do not think it will be anything groundbreaking, it will continue to further legitimize the technology which would lead to further adoption in the asset class; particularly if they will be used on exchanges as some have reported.

The Company has been dealing with privacy and data issues for some time which have even included then separating up to $5 billion to settle with regulators.  They have even created a whitepaper of sorts to share their vision of how regulation could look! They have even started to talk about given encryption alternatives to users to protect privacy and stated that they do not sell data!

>We've invested billions of dollars in security, which has affected our profitability. We've taken steps that reduced engagement in WhatsApp to stop misinformation and reduced viral videos in Facebook by more than 50 million hours a day to improve well-being.  Mark
 
One question is about who decides what speech is acceptable and what isn't. Right now, we have a deliberative process of consulting with experts around the world. But I've increasingly come to believe that we shouldn't be making so many of these decisions about content ourselves.  
 
As people increasingly share more privately, we're working on making more of our products end-to-end encrypted by default and making more of our products ephemeral so your information doesn't stick around forever.  -Mark Zuckerberg

This will be interesting to see how it evolves as it could have implications to many users as they suggest that they really do not want to be the decision makers of what is or not acceptable content which sounds contrary to many of the actions of late. As the regulators seemed to have already knocked on their doors to discuss, we may soon see some even more reasons to seek censor resistant options like our great ecosystem Steem.  They have even got specific questions related to decentralization as well!

>I mean, this is a really important question, one that we are spending a lot of time on, broadly thinking about. I do generally - I mean, I believe very strongly in trying to decentralize and put power in individual's hands. I mean, that's always been the first part of the mission of Facebook, is giving people the power to share, to connect, to come together and build communities, but give people the power has always been the primary and first thing that we have focused on. And one of the ways that we're talking about decentralization is through end-to-end encryption in messaging. I do think that there is a very broad sense, as you're saying, that - and greater awareness that having data stored for long periods of time with companies cannot only be an asset, and that it can help provide better services but can also be a liability in that there could be breaches or the data could be used in ways that weren't intended. -Mark Zuckerberg

I think this recognizes the growing attention based economy that is logical within these sectors and technologies.  They recognize the asset but fear the liability due to what I believe is a misunderstanding. They say liability because of inappropriate access and use but using blockchain could actually allow the parties involved to manage those concerns.  Not only identity can be resolved but also the auditong aspect to ensure the data was used appropriately. The fact is that they are not incentivized to lose that control.

The pressure continues to build for the sector and I think that the implications for us on the forefront of blockchain and social media will be interesting to experience. I am not necessarily saying that it is the total solution but it would make sense that the next step for users to consider these questions as the attention economy continues to grow and provide opportunities for us. What are your thoughts of these trends as it would seem that things are on a collision course at some point in time?  I appreciate your engagement and feedback!</div>

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<sub><sup>DISCLAIMER: The information discussed here is intended to enable the community to know my opinions and discuss them. It is not intended as and does not constitute investment advice or legal or tax advice or an offer to sell any asset to any person or a solicitation of any person of any offer to purchase any asset. The information here should not be construed as any endorsement, recommendation or sponsorship of any company or asset by me. There are inherent risks in relying on, using or retrieving any information found here, and I urge you to make sure you understand these risks before relying on, using or retrieving any information here. You should evaluate the information made available here, and you should seek the advice of professionals, as appropriate, to evaluate any opinion, advice, product, service or other information; I do not guarantee the suitability or potential value of any particular investment or information source. I may invest or otherwise hold an interest in these assets that may be discussed here.</sup></sub>


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