5/5 (1)

All of you have probably noticed. This week, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp went down for over 6 hours. This had consequences for all users, and for the owners of Facebook as well. Is it a problem for us to be so dependent on one social media platform?

At 17.30, the complaints started on Twitter. Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp went down. In the Netherlands, WhatsApp is the main method of messaging for 84% of people. 10,4 million Dutch people have an account on Facebook, and Instagram has 5,9 million Dutch users, of which 3,7 million are active daily. These numbers indicate how important these platforms, all owned by Facebook, are for everyday communication. This time, the platforms were down for 6 hours. Facebook temporarily lost over 6 billion USD in value.

As students, we were working on assignment deadlines during this downtime. Usually, WhatsApp is used as the main communication, but this was unavailable. We had to resort to old-school text messages. But it is not unimaginable, that this service will be terminated in the future, as it is being used less and less. Then we would be almost completely relying on Facebook and its platforms.

This creates a situation in which all communication forms are bound to one provider. When this provider has problems that it fails to resolve quickly, as we saw this week. This could potentially stall all communication and therefore cause enormous personal and economic damages. Therefore, it is important to always keep multiple communication methods available.

As of now, we still have text messaging and e-mail. I think it is highly important that everyone stays available through those means, to prevent issues when Facebook is down. What do you think? Are there any other dangers in Facebook’s enormous market share? Should we take other measures to ensure communication remains possible at all times? I would love to hear your opinion.

References:

https://longreads.cbs.nl/nederland-in-cijfers-2020/wie-gebruikt-het-vaakst-sociale-media/#:~:text=Het%20uitwisselen%20van%20tekstberichten%2C%20bijvoorbeeld,ouder%20deed%20dit%20in%202019.

https://www.rtlnieuws.nl/tech/artikel/4999641/gebruik-facebook-nederland-groei-gebruikers-instagram-youtube-snapchat-twitter

https://wedigital.nl/nieuws/social-media-gebruik-in-nederland-in-2021/

5/5 (1)

Amazon states that, within five to ten years, every household will own a robot. Recently Amazon presented their first household robot: Astro. It has many functionalities, such as checking on pets or people, controlling home security, checking for ovens or stoves that are left on when leaving the house, and much more. Obviously, having a robot fully equipped with cameras and microphones running around you all day might lead to some privacy concerns.

Astro will see and hear everything, and it will more than likely use an internet connection to process all this data. If we assume that Amazon is trustworthy and will not use this data for any other purposes (can we assume that?), it is still possible for people with other intentions to intercept this data. Amazon counters these threats by stating that Astro can be programmed to stay out of certain rooms or to disable cameras and microphones. The latter will prevent any functionality altogether.

In addition to the privacy concerns, there is the question of whether this household robot adds a lot of value, coming in at a price of 999USD. I can see the use for elderly who are at risk of falling in their houses, of course, but there are much simpler and most importantly cheaper solutions for this. Therefore, I would have to say that at this point, Astro does not take enough daily tasks out of hand to be worth the price tag.

However, this might just be Amazon’s plan. Astro is not supposed to become the standard in household robotics. It is supposed to be a signal towards competition, how far ahead Amazon is, and towards customers, how much of an innovative company they are. So when the day is there that a household robot is almost a basic need, people will look at the latest Amazon products first.

Do you believe that in five to ten years, most households will have a robot?

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-58727057