Digital Smarts - “Secret Conversations” On Facebook

Recently, Facebook started rolling out a beta version of a new feature in their Messenger app that they're calling "secret conversations." Basically, it is end-to-end encrypted messaging that, in theory, doesn't allow anyone — not even Facebook — to intercept the messages. It's Facebook's attempt to compete with other messaging apps like WhatsApp, which provides a very high level of security and is attractive to global audiences, especially young people.

At first, the feature will only be available to a small percentage of users for testing, but everyone else should get it in the late summer or early fall. Of course, there's a catch: users will have to "opt-in" to the service, meaning for most people, Facebook will still be able to rifle through your info and deliver those personalized ads which sometimes come across as kind of creepy. It is also be interesting to see if these “secret conversations” play a part in cyberbullying and sexting.