I'd delete facebook if it weren't for messenger.

On January 11, 2018, Facebook announced changes to the timeline that revolved around more meaningful interactions between users rather than the ads and business pages that had become prevalent due to Facebook's advertising network.

"We've gotten feedback from our community that public content -- posts from businesses, brands and media -- is crowding out the personal moments that lead us to connect more with each other." - Mark Zuckerberg

The Facebook timeline has always been interesting to me because I have spent a decent amount of time making sure that I only see the things that I want to see yet spend almost next to no time making content of my own. In 2018 I shared 17 posts to my timeline. Only one of these posts were of personal nature - the rest were either work or public service related. I created 0 posts of my own and uploaded 0 photos of myself in 2018.

What I have noticed since Facebook's update to their timeline is the increase in people being tagged in memes and other content that is meant to appeal to a broad audience, not unlike the chain emails in the early 2000's that urged you to forward something to all of your contacts or be cursed.

So where did all of the meaningful interaction go?

In 2019 I don't feel all that different than I did last year. I don't plan on sharing a ton of posts and photos about myself nor do I like to share posts that other people will relate to or find funny.

I'd delete Facebook if it weren't for messenger. It's a sentence I here constantly amongst my social circles. I use Facebook a lot for work to monitor social media and do some advertising, but all of that can be done with a business profile. What keeps me from deleting my personal account is the messenger - I can't think of a single day in the last year or so that I've gone without using it. It's where all of my friends are and it's where the meaningful interaction takes place for me.

On Facebook, my timeline is filled with hockey highlights and marketing blogs after I spent a considerable amount of time curating my feed to be rid of all of the content that I didn't want to see. This makes things difficult for platforms to keep my interested in their timeline when I can get all of my content elsewhere. Why scroll through Facebook looking for hockey highlights when I can visit Sportsnet or TSN?

There are alternatives, but they're not as accessible as Facebook yet.

What messenger needs desperately is to realize that the amount of content shared within the messenger is soon going to be, or may already be, far greater than what's shared on the timeline. Messenger needs to be able to play third party videos that aren't hosted on Facebook and find a way to keep users on their platform. A lot of marketers refer to this as dark social.

The next goldmine in social media will be a messaging app that harnesses dark social. This isn't so much a prediction as it is a statement of something that's already in motion; each year messaging apps are being created, acquired or re-purposed. There's nothing out there that can do it all yet - there's Facebook messenger which is good for sharing content and making plans. There's snapchat that is good for spur-of-the-moment photos. There's WhatsApp for group texts. We need one messenger to rule them all.

Until the best messaging app comes around, I'll keep my Facebook account, but I have a feeling it won't be for long.