Facebook’s F8 developer conference took place on the 30^th of April and according to CEO Mark Zuckerburg “the future is private”.

With the controversy Facebook faced recently this could be hard to believe. In January this year, Apple banned a Facebook programme from its mobile devices as Facebook was improperly tracking the internet habits of teenagers. The social media giant paid people, even children, to allow Facebook to access their personal data, including web browsing history, private emails, location data and more.

Children as young as 13 years old were paid 20 US Dollars to install the software, which in turn sent the data to Facebook, that gave the social network access to almost everything on their phones. Mark Zuckerburg openly joked that Facebook does not have the strongest reputation on privacy at the moment, but he insists that Facebook is committed to doing this well. Pushing hard to redesign the Facebook app to connect with close family and friends as more and more users are turning to groups and private ways of sharing on the network.

But the Facebook site you remember will soon be a thing of the past, the redesign not only focus on backend making it more private but it will give the website a new, cleaner look and feel.

The website looks more minimalist and includes more whites space. Facebook’s logo has changed, the letter f is now in a bright blue circle. Facebook stories no longer appear on the right side of the page in circles, instead, it is featured in the middle of the page in rectangles. The Events tab will be also be updated, with the additional option for people to discover interesting events in your area.

The main takeaway is that an increased focus will be put on Groups. Accessible through the sidebar at the left-hand side of the screen keeping groups front and centre as you move throughout the site. The redesign will make it easier for people to find more relevant private spaces. With Groups being the most engaging part of the Facebook experience for people who share similar interests.

Brands and marketers cannot ignore this big change when it comes to planning your Facebook marketing strategy. Facebook has made it clear that they want to move away from the focus being on the newsfeed and our constant need to keep up with the latest algorithm changes. The increased focus on groups might push us to adapt our strategies to focus on the community.

From now on, marketers will need to focus on treating their audiences as a growing community and meaningful engagement will be key!