“When the history of Facebook is written, mark down March 14th, 2019 as the end of the News Feed era.”

What do we do when the News Feed is no longer the keystone of the Facebook experience? Understand that advertising space on Facebook is about to become even more of a premium, evolve our strategy, and be prepared for more active and frequent optimizations as we measure the impact of new designs.

Mark Zuckerberg recently rolled out, in true Zuckerbergian style, plans for redesigning America’s largest social media platform.

Since 2016, Facebook has been dealing with privacy issues that have proven increasingly embarrassing (and costly — to the tune of $3 billion most recently) for their company. That fact has caused Zuckerberg to take the company into a more private direction.

“As I think about the future of the internet, I believe a privacy-focused communications platform will become even more important than today’s open platforms.” Zuckerberg wrote in one of his now infamous 3000+ word blog posts.

Based on the fact that 400 million users are apart of one group or more, Zuckerberg is looking to step away from the traditional News Feed and direct users to their redesigned Groups and Events tabs.

Along with a drastic change in direction, one of the News Feeds original designers, Chris Cox, has decided to leave the company.

Cox spent more than a decade working at Facebook and was the primary overseer of the News Feed during its halcyon days. Cox stepping down could be a sign of the beginning of the end for the News Feed.

So what happens to the world’s largest online town hall? And more importantly, the billions of dollars Facebook is paid for their primary data-harvesting tool?

Nothing…. nothing at all.

But that raises a concern for campaigns and associations. Where does the content go after you’ve taken away the site’s largest billboard?

Facebook has already begun to introduce new ways to purchase ad space. Self-service premium ads, sponsored stories, and automated “premium” ad buys will help make for a smooth transition away from the News Feed.

And possibly more expensive real estate?

With a more private social platform that focuses more on the likes and dislikes of the individual rather than a “the more the merrier” mindset, ad space will become more exclusive — and more valuable.

With advertising driving 89% of the companies revenue, rest assured very little has fundamentally changed at Facebook.