Privacy is already an issue

Key Takeaways

Facebook plans to launch a smartwatch next year.

But who, really, would wear a Facebook watch?

founderAshley Simmons told Lifewire via email.

Closeup of someone using an Apple Watch.

Luke Chesser / Unsplash

“It’s a user privacy nightmare.

In many cases, Facebook requires new users to ‘validate’ their accounts by sending in government ID.”

And yet users keep coming back because Facebook offers a compelling proposal in return.

Someone wearing a smartwatch with their arm down by their side.

Tyler Hendy / Unsplash

All your friends are on Facebook, along with all your special-interest groups, and so on.

A watch is a different proposition.

You dont need it to keep in touch, or to share posts, or to send messages.

And a watch also feels more personal.

It’s a user privacy nightmare…

In many cases, Facebook requires new users to ‘validate’ their accounts by sending in government ID.

In reality, your phone goes everywhere you go.

But wearing a watch feels more intimate.

“Facebook’s privacy issues are no secret.

Facebook is also intensely competitive; one might even say paranoid.

Whenever another platform looks likely to rival Facebook in popularity, it buys or copies it.

When WhatsApp became the default messaging and group-sharing app outside the US, Facebook bought it.

And now, watches are getting big.

But in the end, its all about the data.

“Entering the smartwatch market means Facebook can collect a missing data pointhealth/fitness related dataabout its users.”