Facebook users and online marketers get ready, big changes are coming to the social network. The social media company announced at their F8 conference, that several new products and features will be coming to the world's largest social network. These changes are designed to make it easier for people to communicate with each other and businesses.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his team showed off these new Facebook enhancements at F8 and here's what they said was in the pipeline.
1. Online Engagement on Other Sites Will Show up on Facebook
The next time you comment on one of your favorite blogs, it might just show up on your Facebook page automatically. This feature is designed to make it easier for media companies to boost engagement for their content. BuzzFeed, Fox Sports, Huffington Post, and EliteDaily are some of the first media companies that will be testing this feature.
This is a feature that might drive people a little batty to start off with, just remember that you'll have the option to turn it off.
2. Communicate with Businesses Using Messenger and Track Online Purchases
Messenger is Facebook's standalone messaging app that allows people to send private messages back and forth. This app will soon be integrated into the world of e-commerce. Soon you'll have the option to connect your Facebook account to online stores so that companies can send you notifications about what you just bought, when it's arriving and so on. These will show up in Messenger instead of littering your email inbox.
3. Reply to Messages With Other Apps
You'll soon be able to open third party apps within Facebook's Messenger. So if you want to send someone a funny GIF, you won't have to close Messenger, open up a GIF app, copy it, then reopen Messenger and paste it in to send. This new feature will make Messenger a much more efficient and user-friendly tool.
David Marcus, head of the Messenger team at Facebook said, " We truly feel that, together, we have a shot at reinventing how a billion people communicate every day."
4. Spherical Videos
Prepare to have your head spin, literally. Facebook will soon support 360-degree videos. Similar to Google's Street View product, these videos will allow you to change the perspective of what you are viewing.
Facebook has been touting the growth of video content for a long time. It looks like they're ready to take it to another level. Facebook is positioning themselves more and more to take on the Google-owned YouTube.
5. Embed Your Videos
In another shot across the bow of YouTube, Facebook will give people the option to embed their videos. This gives people another place, other than YouTube, to upload and distribute their video content. To embed a video, simply click on the embed button. This will give you a small snippet of code. You can then take that code and place it on your site, bringing user-friendly video content to your audience. The ability has helped YouTube dominate that online video market, Facebook is ready to jump into that market with both feet.
6. Control More Devices with Facebook
The social network announced new ways for it's developers to build apps that can control everything from your coffee pot to a garage door. This is Facebook's attempt at getting into the "Internet of Things." This feature is still a ways off, but it's clear that Facebook is ready to explore the space. The "Internet of Things" is going to be a big trend in the coming years. You're going to see more and more things connected to the internet, giving people the opportunity to control them with their phones and other mobile devices.
7. App Analytics
This last big feature won't affect the average Facebook user, but it's a big win for all the app developers and marketers. Facebook will provide a free dashboard to app developers that will let them see who is engaging with their apps and what sources are referring people to them. This feature has been a long time coming and much needed.
These new features that Facebook announced are going to help people and business connect more efficiently. There might be some user push back on a few of the new features, but ultimately, change is good. Facebook is good at keeping things fresh and as they like to say "ship it." They like to test and see if they can't break something. Sometimes the changes work, sometimes they don't. Only time will tell if these new features will last.