A couple of days ago, Mark Zuckerberg posted on his Facebook wall a very interesting message, which was mostly about this new year resolutions. I selected below only the part that's relevant to this article:
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![Screen Shot 2018-01-06 at 3.00.26 PM.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmQcqb7NWmnZq2jYDtFS4nfR9G6uPztYpLwKg5nVgZaRcX/Screen%20Shot%202018-01-06%20at%203.00.26%20PM.png)
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The red rectangle above is key, in my opinion.

First, because whatever message Mark Zuckerber puts out, it gets into the feeds of hundreds of million of people. At this exposure, everything is carefully crafted, this isn't your usual hangover texting after New Year's party. There is a message that has to get across.

Second, because Facebook has a long - and consistent - history of getting what they want, when they want and however the fuck they want. Few people remember now there was a competition between Yahoo Messenger and Facebook Chat. Well, not anymore. Messenger is the only one around. Also, Mark wanted to buy Snapchat a few years back, got a "No!", so he implemented a Snapchat-on-demand in Facebook (stories). More recently, Facebook Marketplace is clearly aiming at Craigslist type of content. And the list may go on and on.

So, for me, this year message is very clear: "We saw that crypto thing is taking off, so we're gonna get into it."

Period.

While this is kind of a big news, it is also very challenging. And, for once, it won't be challenging for us, but for Mark.

Let me tell you why.

Facebook's business model is based on selling users data to advertisers. And what makes it valuable is the fact that _it is opaque_. Nobody else knows how that data is generated and aggregated, except Facebook. 

If they will "tokenize" Facebook, they have roughly two options:

* a decentralized token, tradeable outside of Facebook ecosystem (like STEEM)
* a centralized token (basically, a glorified loyalty points system) pertinent only inside the Facebook ecosystem

The first one will literally break Facebook into pieces. Each token will be the equivalent of a mega-liquid Facebook share and pretty much everybody and their mother will jump on it. At over 1 billion instant users, trading an "airdropped" Facebook coin all at once, the ecosystem will simply implode. The magnitude of a 1 billion people decentralized system is simply too big to be contained. Zuckerberg will lose control (as he astutely points out as a "challenge" in his message) and I think he doesn't want to lose control.

So there is only the second option. While they may try to bank on the crypto / blockchain hype by touting it as "decentralized", it won't be. There will be loads of filters and probably the only use of the token will be to be spent for buying "wall exposure" - by companies, or "UI gimmicks" for end users. Facebook will add an extra metric to the data they'll sell to advertisers, namely "consumption habits"- or how people spend this coin inside Facebook - and they will stick with what they know "it works". 

Alas, by the time they'll implement it, a decentralized alternative model may already be too strong. Because it's not the token value _per se_  that makes a coin precious, but the whole ecosystem it backs up, with governance rules being the most important. 

And, in that respect, Facebook is still much like a dictatorship, instead of a democracy. Even a "proxied" democracy, like DPoS is, is way better than a dictatorship, but I doubt Facebook will foster enough vision and logistic capacity to implement something like this.

So, yes, we may soon see some sort of a Facebook coin, but it might be just a glorified voucher.
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_I'm a serial entrepreneur, blogger and ultrarunner. You can find me mainly on my blog at [Dragos Roua](http://dragosroua.com) where I write about productivity, business, relationships and running. Here on Steemit you may stay updated by following me @dragosroua._
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_If you're new to Steemit, you may find these articles relevant (that's also part of my witness activity to support new members of the platform)_:
* [Rewards: Were Does The Money Come From?](https://steemit.com/steemit/@dragosroua/steemit-newbie-faq-rewards-were-does-the-money-come-from)
* [Netiquette: How To Avoid Being A Steem Douche?](https://steemit.com/steem/@dragosroua/steemit-newbie-faq-netiquette-how-to-avoid-being-a-steem-douche)
* [Witnesses: What Are They And Why Should You Care?](https://steemit.com/steemit/@dragosroua/steemit-newbie-faq-witnesses-what-are-they-and-why-should-you-care)
* [How Can I Mine Steem And What CPU / GPU Power Do I Need For That?](https://steemit.com/steemit/@dragosroua/steemit-newbie-faq-how-can-i-mine-steem-and-what-cpu-gpu-power-do-i-need-for-that)
* [The Beginner Guide To Not Getting Hacked On Steemit](https://steemit.com/steemit/@dragosroua/the-beginner-guide-to-not-getting-hacked-on-steemit)