Leaked emails show Mark Zuckerberg is worried Facebook is no longer relevant, know reason inside

Meta’s founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been concerned about Facebook’s cultural relevance for quite some time now. His worries came to light during an ongoing antitrust trial by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) against Meta. Emails exchanged between Zuckerberg and Facebook’s head, Tom Alison, in April 2022 were presented in court this week, as reported by Business Insider.

In one of the emails, Zuckerberg admitted that even though Facebook's user engagement had remained steady in many areas, he was still worried that people were not finding the platform culturally relevant anymore. “It feels like its cultural relevance is decreasing quickly, and I worry that this may be a leading indicator of future health issues,” he wrote.

Zuckerberg explained that if Facebook lost its importance, it could impact the entire company, regardless of how well Instagram or WhatsApp were doing. He said he couldn’t see a successful future for Meta if Facebook itself started to decline.

One of the biggest problems Zuckerberg pointed out was Facebook’s "friending" feature. He said many users' friend lists had become outdated and were no longer filled with people they cared to hear from. He even admitted that he personally preferred following influencers on Instagram or Twitter, rather than connecting with friends on Facebook. This, he said, might be one reason why Facebook is losing its charm, because other platforms focus more on the “follow” feature rather than “friending.”

In an effort to bring back Facebook’s popularity, Zuckerberg presented three potential solutions to Alison. One of them was a bold, even “crazy” idea: delete everyone's friend lists and let users start fresh, hoping it would help people connect more meaningfully.

He also discussed the platform’s ongoing focus on groups and communities but admitted that even that approach hadn’t lived up to expectations. “I’m optimistic about community messaging,” he wrote, “but after running at groups in FB for several years, I’m not sure how much further we’ll be able to push this.”

Zuckerberg’s emails reveal how seriously he views Facebook’s future and show that even with billions of users, staying relevant in the fast-moving world of social media is still a major challenge.