Don’t worry, Facebook isn’t going anywhere

Facebook may be embroiled in its most disastrous data-leak scandal yet, but it won’t be the death knell of the social media behemoth.

Well, that’s a relief.

Social media experts have assured me, as well as Facebook’s other 2 billion users, of this.

I mean, can you imagine not being able to post photos of your cute kids, selfies when you’re all glammed up or creeping on an ex’s Facebook page?

I can’t — and neither can many of you, whether you’ll admit it or not.

Facebook fessed up on Wednesday that the information of nearly 87 million users had been improperly shared through a personality quiz app with Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm linked to President Trump. Then, Facebook’s billionaire CEO Mark Zuckerberg told reporters most Facebook users should assume their information has been shared.

“Even if 100 million people left the platform, it’s not going to die,” said Emerson College professor David Gerzof Richard. “They’re going to continue being the giant gorilla of social media, but they’re going to be walking around with a giant black eye for a long time.”

People will stay because a lot of them are connected to each other only through Facebook, said Richard, founder of BIGfish Communications.

“There’s a social glue that exists in Facebook that I believe will prevent the bulk of people from deleting it even if they’re really turned off and dissatisfied by the platform,” Richard said.

Facebook now needs to be very clear about the information that apps are collecting from its users, Richard said, and if Facebook doesn’t own and fix the data privacy problem, the government will.

“And one thing is for sure,” Richard said, “Washington, D.C., is terrible at technology.”

American University communications professor Aram Sinnreich said Facebook isn’t going away because it has a tremendous amount of momentum and cash as well as an increasing amount of lobbying power.

Zuckerberg’s appearance before Congress next week is a chance for him to “massage Facebook’s image,” Sinnreich said.

“To reiterate that the company has a commitment to consumer privacy and their mission is fundamentally altruistic and democratic,” Sinnreich said, “which is the message that ‘connecting people’ is an inherently good thing.”

So don’t worry, you don’t have to break your Facebook habit just yet.