Facebook has been constantly evolving and shape-shifting as a social media platform for around a decade now and in one of the latest announcements, it’s Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg had stated that he aims to turn the company into a messaging services company. It clearly points to the fact that Facebook will be less of a social media platform in the future and days after that announcement, the Chief Product Officer at the company announced that he is quitting. Chris Cox was one of the earliest members of the staff at Facebook and rose to become the Chief Product Officer of the company. However, it seems his departure is closely linked to the new pivot that the company has outlined.
Cox published a blog in which he expressed sadness at quitting the company. He also stated,
As Mark has outlined, we are turning a new page in our product direction, focus on an encrypted, interoperable, messaging network. This will be a big project, and we will need leaders who are excited to see the new direction through.
Zuckerberg wants to integrate Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram and Cox was all set to head that integration. That being said, many experts believe that the task of integrating and bring those platforms together is going to be a tough ask for most engineers.
This is the latest among a string of high profile departures from Facebook. Chris Daniels, the Vice President of WhatsApp also can be added. However, it could also be the part of a major reorganization of the top management in the company after a period in which the social media giant has had to face investigations related to privacy and spurious news. It is also important to point out that earlier this month Zuckerberg had told Wired magazine that the new messaging pivot is going to see a lot of changes inside the company. He said,
There will be a bunch of work inside the company to make sure that we have the right folks in the right roles.
Perhaps the CEO of Facebook was referring to some of the management changes that were going to be introduced in the company.
That being said, it is often noticed that whenever a company pivots to a new strategy, high profile exits almost always take place. Jasmine Enberg, an analyst at EMarketer, said as much. She said,
Whenever there is a shift in strategy, it’s not unusual to see some personnel changes.
