I don’t see this as a positive for FB at all.

To me, this looks like FB has finally accepted defeat in the social networking space. Over the years it has been deteriorating at delivering on its core mission of connecting people and supporting personal relationships.

I don’t think FB of the past would have green lighted this project, the hit on its brand positioning is significant. It will only accelerate people’s disassociation between FB and a social network.

Effectively, at this point they’re just cashing in on their brand equity and milking their user base.

They’ll pay in terms of churn and decreased LTV.