2019年经济学人 Facebook的第三幕(1)（在线收听）

The first big overhaul for Facebook came in 2012-14.

Facebook的首次大整改是在2012年到2014年间。

Internet users were carrying out ever more tasks on smartphones rather than desktop or laptop computers.

互联网用户更多地使用智能手机执行任务而不是电脑或笔记本。

Mark Zuckerberg opted to follow them, concentrating on Facebook's mobile app ahead of its website,

马克·扎克伯格选择追随他们的脚步，专注于Facebook的手机应用，而把其网站放在后位，

and buying up two fast-growing communication apps, WhatsApp and Instagram. It worked.

他还收购了两个成长迅速的通讯应用—WhatsApp和Instagram。这一选择奏效了。

Facebook increased its market valuation from around $60bn at the end of 2012 to—for a brief period in 2018—more than $600bn.

2012年年底，Facebook市值约为600亿美元—在2018年短期内—增长到了6000多亿美元。

On March 6th Mr Zuckerberg announced Facebook's next pivot. As well as its existing moneymaking enterprise,

3月6日，扎克伯格宣布了脸书的下一中心点。和现在的那些在其公共社交网络中

selling targeted ads on its public social networks, it is building a "privacy-focused platform" around WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger.

销售目标广告的赚钱公司一样，Facebook正在WhatsApp、Instagram和Messenger上建立一个“以隐私为焦点的平台”。

The apps will be integrated, he said, and messages sent through them encrypted end-to-end, so that even Facebook cannot read them.

这些应用将被整合，他说，而且通过它们发送出的信息将被端对端加密，这样即便是Facebook也无法取得这些信息。

While it was not made explicit, it is clear what the business model will be.

虽然没有明述，但很明显这将会是怎样的商业模式。

Mr Zuckerberg wants all manner of businesses to use its messaging networks to provide services and accept payments. Facebook will take a cut.

扎克伯格想要所有企业都使用他的信息传递网络，为他们提供服务和承付。 Facebook将从中分成。

A big shift was overdue at Facebook given the privacy and political scandals that have battered the firm.

遭受隐私和政治丑闻的接连打击，Facebook 的一项大变动迟迟未进行。

Even Mr Zuckerberg, who often appears incapable of seeing the gravity of Facebook's situation, seemed to grasp the irony of it putting privacy first.

连扎克伯格这个似乎看不见Facebook严重境况的人也好像是理解了以隐私优先这句话的讽刺意味。

"Frankly we don't currently have a strong reputation for building privacy protective services," he noted.

“坦白来说，我们目前没有建立隐私保护服务的一个好声誉，”他表示。