Facebook today shocked millions of users by announcing that they are deleting its application in the wake of several allegations of data theft and other malpractices. In what is touted as the nadir in the  social media world, the internet giants expressed deep pain in terminating Facebook but said business as usual could not have gone on in such an environment of mistrust where in government after government was hell bent to destroy Facebook. Founder Mark Zuckerberg looked emotional while making the announcement that it is "End of the Social Media Platform!" 

The events leading to the shocking decision by Facebook Inc has been pretty eventful. The fall out of the Cambridge Analytica data scandal has been disastrous. It has been accused of collecting private information of users by means of a quiz app and selling it to third party data mining companies like Cambridge Analytica. It is essentially placing your personal information at the hands of unknown people with unknown motives. Ads are another bone of contention for users and cries of intrusion have only grown.

This news about the death of one of the greatest revolution in internet history quickly spread like a wildfire. But calm down Facebook users, it is said that the Facebook servers have not been put down yet as it is being reported that user will be given a grace time to back up their data. Since users have put up an astronomical amount of data on Facebook. This is being done to prevent a chaos like situation which is definitely going to build up with users waking up to Facebook deleted. This will also prevent any lawsuit that may be put up in the future against Facebook demanding the status of this large volume of data and its whereabouts. The last day to backup and download your data including photos, videos, messages, pokes and details of friends is announced as 7th April, 2018. So folks we have seven-days to use Facebook!

Here is what Facebook users have to do in order to safeguard their data before it vanishes in thin air.

  1. Go to your Facebook profile and click the drop-down menu in the top right-hand corner, and go to settings.

  2. At the bottom, you will see an option to download a copy of your data.

  3. Once you click it, it will take you to a new page. Click on the Download Archive green button.

  4. You will have to re-enter your password and the download will start shortly. The download may take some while as it is quite a lot of data.

  5. You will get a folder in your Downloads. It will have all your messages, photos, videos and everything you have uploaded on the site. Your profile information, friend list, pokes, game requests, events all of these will be stored in this folder.

The process has been made effortless for the sake of millions of users and once Facebook makes sure all the data has been backed up by the users, the webpage of Facebook will slowly and steadily be taken down. All the regional offices of Facebook have been informed to stay put and ensure that the employees report to work as usual till this backup face is completed. The technology partners and sponsors for whom Facebook have been left in lurch with this massive development. We all know that Facebook is an active medium of advertisement and is one of the main reasons of its sudden demise. A decision on whether to continue with the ads till the backup face is completed will be taken by the Facebook board today in California. Any removal of ads will lead to massive payout packages as compensation to the client companies.

Other apps owned by Facebook like Instagram and Whatsapp have nothing to fear and they will run smoothly. Facebook also ensured that the employees working on the Facebook application will try and be accommodated in other divisions although there is a fear of significant job loss. But more than this, millions of people who had made Facebook as an integral part of their lives will have a huge void in their lives. From Birthday’s to anniversaries, it had become a tool to express raw emotions. The status and pokes were part of everyday life. There may be several social media  apps that may come up in the future, but there will be no one quite as dynamic or lively like Facebook.

Check Video of Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg, Making the Emotional Declaration of Deleting of The Social Media Platform!

(Disclaimer: This Article is purely a work of fiction and does not intend to hurt anyone's sentiments, Happy April Fool's Day!)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 01, 2018 12:00 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).