"What are we going to do today Mr. Zuckerberg?"
"The same thing we do every day. Try to take over the world."
Oh, Mark Zuckerberg, you've gone and done it again. Aside from having his face slapped on the cover of Time magazine for being named Person of The Year, Zuckerberg has been stirring up buzz lately for his latest changes to Facebook.
A New and Simpler Way to Mortify Friends:
There were the new changes to Facebook, which I outlined in my previous blog post, The Great Facebook Facelift of 2010, and now there is another new feature that I think is really cool. What can it do for your business in terms of social media optimization? Nothing. What can it do to further embarrass your friends after a crazy night out on the town? A lot.
Introducing one of the latest Facebook features: Tag Suggestions. Facebook is now using facial recognition in your photos to suggest people for you to tag.
But How Does Facebook Know?
Let's say your bestie uploaded a new album from a great night out, and you just so happen to be in a few of the photos. Okay - a lot of the photos. Facebook uses its facial recognition from previous photos your bestie tagged you in, and will now suggest that she/he tag you in these photos.
They group together all the photos that you are in and suggest you be tagged so she/he doesn't have to tag you a gazillion times. (Because we upload well over 100 photos in one album. Let's be honest here.) All she/he has to do is click "save" to tag you in all those photos at once, and VOILA! Facebook has just made her/his life easier. See screenshot below.
Not in the Mood to be a Part of Zuckerberg's Changes?
I keep photos I've been tagged in visible to myself only. As cool as this new feature is, I don't care to have my name suggested to be tagged in every photo. So what does this new feature mean to me? It means that I will have to customize my privacy settings - yet again - and opt out of this feature. Basically, if you don't want to be suggested, you don't have to.
This feature is rolling out over the next few weeks in the United States, so Canadians will be in the dark for a while on this one.
I completely agree. It’s amazing how much personal information Facebook already has. It doesn’t make me want to use their site any more than I have been. If I have to be concerned about what new changes will affect my privacy on a consistent basis, then they are making some bad moves.
Not quite sure this is a good idea it is however a very clever one! The privacy setting seem to cause bother for a lot of people perhaps there is a way of making it easier for people to opt out of certain things however i’ve never had a problem going and changing it. Wonder when it will reach us here in the UK?
Hi Nick and Nurse Call:
Thank you both for your comments!
I agree with both of you. I think the concept of Facebook using technologies like facial recognition is a great idea, but I’m also tired of having to update my privacy settings. Something like this is great for photo-happy people, but exhausting for those who are not really interested in sharing every photo of themselves.
What would be great: Facebook giving its users the option to turn these features on, and have them set on off by default. Of course that’s not beneficial to Facebook. *Sigh*
Thanks again!