The Untold Zuckerberg Strategy: Once Envisioned Instagram as Standalone to Offset Facebook's Own 'Cannibalisation'

Mark Zuckerberg, the name synonymous with social media revolution, evidently had a plan up his sleeve that could have significantly disrupted the existing dynamics. The Facebook mastermind once entertained the idea of strategically spinning off Instagram as an independent entity in an attempt to address what he termed as Facebook’s ‘cannibalisation’. Zuckerberg’s strategic vision, retrospective but fascinating, rekindled a dialogue on corporate tactics in maintaining balance within product ecosystems.

The term ‘cannibalisation’ is often used to describe a scenario where a company’s new product eats into the sales of one of its existing products. Similarly, Facebook was increasingly seeing a shift of its user activity towards Instagram, the popular photo and video sharing platform it owns. This internal shift was viewed as a threat by Zuckerberg, hence the speculation about spinning off Instagram.