Facebook hosted its annual F8 Conference for developers this week and Mark Zuckerberg addressed the people on the first day. The CEO reiterated how important privacy issues are to the company and announced a number of new releases for Facebook’s multiple platforms.
Listed below are some of the major announcements that were done.
Clear History
By popular demand from users and Congresspeople alike, Facebook’s chief privacy officer announced in a post that Clear History will be both a monitoring tool and a set of controls. It allows users to see which websites and apps using Facebook ads and analytics (including those with the ‘Like’ button) send one’s browsing information back to the social network. Then users are given the choice to stop associating this data with their personal account.
If a user opts-out under Clear History settings, the social platform won’t link the info to the personal account. This implies that when the network repackages that information into advertising insights to sell to sites and apps, user data is folded into general demographic insights and not personally-identifying info. It’s unclear as to when the feature will go live for users.
Watch Party
Watch Party is a video tool that lets multiple users watch the same video simultaneously while being able to comment. Only a small group of beta users has access to the tool right now, but Facebook has plans to expand the availability of Watch Party in the future.
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Dating service
Users will soon be able to opt into a dating profile that will connect them to non-friends who have also opted-in to be on the dating platform hosted by Facebook. Matches will be made based on similarities in users’ profiles.
Instagram will be getting a design upgrade, with the Explorer section organized around content channels. The app is also getting video chat for one-to-one and group conversations, as well as AR camera effects.
Messenger
Messenger will also be getting a design refresh to be “cleaner and faster,” along with AR camera effects and “M suggestions” — a translation tool that helps Marketplace buyers and sellers communicate across languages. Facebook will also be launching branded AR experiences for advertisers, which are currently in closed beta with a small number of brands including Kia, Nike, and Sephora.
WhatsApp, Facebook’s messaging platform, will get AR camera effects and a group video calling feature. Mark Zuckerberg also took the time to thank WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum, who announced he was leaving the company on 30 April. Zuckerberg said he was deeply grateful for Koum’s work.
