The word’s out. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has indeed deleted some of his messages sent to recipients on Messenger. While this is not possible for others, it is for Zuckerberg. Guess being CEO has a lot of perks, right?
 
But now the word’s out, Facebook said they’re only testing the ‘Unsend’ feature before rolling it out for public use (or so they said).
 
How would this feature work? What, then, does this imply to the users and their privacy? Will this affect people’s conversations? Let’s discuss these shortly.
 

The Unsend Feature: Messages on Disappearing Act

 
According to Facebook executives, the Unsend feature will allow users to delete messages that they’ve sent. For secret messages, the user can set a timer on how long the messages should stay in the inbox.
 

There are mixed reactions to this upcoming feature. For one, it could be an advantage for mis-sent messages. We all have those times when we send a message to someone but was meant for someone else. At least, the feature could spare us the embarrassment. That is, of course, if the person hasn’t read the message yet.
 
But most of the concerns are on its disadvantage and most of it lies on the user’s privacy.
 

Unsend and Privacy: The Paranoia There Is

 
One downside of this feature is how messages can easily be deleted now. Remember that each conversation that we have with any user could be used as evidence of some sort. But now that a person can delete messages, how else can someone get hold of proof or evidence?
 
The answer: our sense of paranoia would lead to constant screenshots of Messenger conversations. And this could mean a serious privacy concern. We cannot just screenshot every single exchange of messages we have with every person for the fear that any word said on both sides could be used against each other.
 
More than this, this pose a great question on whether the messages would be totally deleted or not. After Facebook’s data breach, how else could we trust the social network’s user data capacity?
 

Cautiousness: Changing Conversations

 
With all the privacy issues that social media have, people should start getting cautious. Add this Unsend feature, any conversation should be dealt with utmost caution.
 
But how would this impact your usual conversations?
 
Maybe it wouldn’t be as fun or as intimate as you want it to be. Or there would always be that hint of doubt to divulge information, no matter how small. It would change random exchanges with friends and family. Because even the people closest to us could potentially use any words we say against us.
 
Conversations would not be as open. And that is completely changing what Messenger’s purpose was supposed to be.
 

The Bottomline

 
Whether Facebok would push through with Unsend or not, privacy should always be our number one concern. This feature could be both an advantage and disadvantage depending on how people would use it and react against or for it.
 
Maybe Zuckerberg would have just apologized about the deletion of messages in the first place. Maybe it wasn’t the best course of action to say that it was merely a test of a possible new feature.
 
As for any feature and its underlying concerns, we could only wish it would be for the best.