Images, gifs and short videos seems like a logical step forward for mass consumption. Can't really blame facebook for heading in that direction.
Yup, their first order of business is to optimize for the widest swath of users. That being said, as feeds become more customized, I'm sure you'll start seeing more rich articles if that's what you desire.
Twitter delivers desirable information because the user curates it strongly (it's normal to follow/unfollow users over time), but Facebook will likely replace that effort with algorithms.
You're pretty optimistic. I wish I could share the optimism. They've had over a decade to get there, and as far as I can tell, they're moving the opposite direction they'd need to do what you claim they will.
They're doing their best to become irrelevant and die. But their users keep clawing them back to life. Eventually either FB or the users will figure their shit out, and part ways.
How many in your circle have actually quit FB (including Messenger)?
The impression I'm forming is that these younger people see FB as something like my generation viewed the phone company.
I like your idea about the phone company.
https://backchannel.com/a-teenagers-view-on-social-media-1df...
http://mashable.com/2013/08/11/teens-facebook/
http://www.slate.com/blogs/business_insider/2013/10/24/faceb...