Facebook showcases its next big leap at F8 meet
What's the story
Two billion users of Facebook are to witness yet another developed version of the social media platform following the annual developers' meet at San Jose.
From beta-testing Facebook's new social 'Augmented Reality' product to finding bots on the platform via messenger, these features would definitely give an edge to Facebook in the competitive market.
Let's have a look at some of the new features.
AR
Facebook launches its own AR, Apple to follow suit
With AR Studio, Facebook finally enters the market of Augmented Reality previously exploited by Google and Snapchat allowing developers around the world to tap into its potential with zero investment.
Apple is also working on its own AR in association with hundreds of engineers. Rumours of Apple working on prototypes of AR glasses were also in the news recently.
Snapchat
Snapchat has good reason to worry
While Facebook works on a more open-market AR model, Snapchat with its recent integration of AR seems reluctant on making new customized filters or effects by developers.
Snapchat VP of engineering Tim Sehn said, "We never wanted third-party apps on our platform. We have created a product where it is more critically important than ever before that we control the end user experience."
Workplace
Facebook aims to make Workplace more office efficient
Facebook plans to launch the free version of Workplace this year, which competes with Slack, and is designed in contrast to Facebook itself to increase productivity.
Two versions of Workplace are in the offing. One is the free version which has basic functions and other is the paid-premium version which offers better admin tools, cloud file storage and sharing features.
Messenger
Messenger to get further updates
Based on the model app WeChat, Messenger would enable a feature where users can book tickets, make dinner reservations and others.
Spotify is also being incorporated into Messenger, so that, users can now send songs in groups and listen to it together at once.
It is also developing QR codes to recognize and integrate bots that can function in the Messenger.
Fake news
Facebook tool to fight fake news and its rocket icon
An ad will appear at the top of users' Facebook news feeds for three days to educate people about fake news with links to advice on "how to spot fake news" and report the same.
Another feature is the rocket icon which leads to a corresponding feed that is chosen by Facebook based on the algorithm of past likes and comments, for the user.
Feature to recover account from any site
While earlier, the best option to recover accounts of different sites was the email account, it will soon change, with Facebook bringing in new features.
Instead of being asked about your email address, the recovery process with Facebook will take you through "series of prompts to check your identity based on what it knows about you through your Facebook account."