Facebook Updates – July 2017

Nowadays, we cannot imagine our life, personal or professional, without Facebook being in it. Whether it’s for communicating with friends and family, promoting your business or raising a social issue; Facebook is playing the role of a confidante. Owing to Facebook’s popularity among the Indians, India has left America behind and has become the largest user of FB.

Although Facebook may be developed and successful enough, there’s always room for improvement. Facebook makes the most of this space by consistently releasing updates and implementing new features.

We have rounded up a list of latest FB updates as of July 2017

1. Group admins will have more insight

One primary complaint among group admins is that they have little access to metrics regarding group member’s activities. The solutions Fb provided for this are,

• Group admins can have access to real time metrics of growth and post engagement with the group insights update.

• Group admins can have information about how many new members have joined the group and about the percentage of growth.

• Group admins can compare number of posts, comments, reactions of two time periods.

• They can view a graph, charting activity level by the time of day and day of the week. This way they can gain insight on the best time to post something.

• Group admins can know their top contributors – the members who have contributed the most comments or posted the most during a time period.

• Info on which post received the highest number of reactions, likes, comments or shares.

• Group admins can bifurcate their members according to their gender. This info can influence how they communicate, advertise and target audience.

• Group admins can filter membership requests on the basis of gender, location etc. This filtering of requests can be useful for group admins who want to prioritize a specific group of their audience.

• Admins can now remove group members and their created content easily.

2. Discover tab on FB messenger

With Discover, users can interact with bots, places, and businesses on Messenger. You can browse by category, recently visited businesses and featured experiences. Discover makes it easier to get things done on messenger, like reading the latest articles, getting the latest news highlights or booking your next vacation.

3. Messenger Ads

This update is particularly new for Indians. With this new tool, businesses from around the globe can extend their reach to people on messenger.

The home tab of the Messenger mobile app will consist the sponsored ads, which more or less looks like typical news feed ads with headlines. When users tap on an ad, they will be directed to the destination the ad maker set, like a website or a chatbox. Messenger ads are available in Ads Manager and Power Editor and advertisers will be able to add Messenger to campaigns using the Traffic and Conversion objectives.

4. Find wi-fi hotspots near you

This tool allows users to find wi-fi hot spots near them based on businesses who have shared their wi-fi through their Facebook page. A user simply has to click on the “More” tab on the messenger app to find wi-fi. They can also search through the map to find nearby hot spots and know more about the business sharing their wi-fi.

5. New metrics for Ad and Page insights

These metrics can give companies a better understanding of user interactions with their ads or pages.

• Landing page views: Shows the number of visitors who reached your website after clicking on your ad.

• Pre-impression activity breakdown: Shows whether visitors have been to your website previously.

• Followers: Shows the number of followers who have joined and left you. Also, shows demographics of followers and a breakdown of organic and paid follows.

• Previews: Shows the number of people who see your Page’s information without actually clicking on it.

• Recommendations: Shows the number of times your Page is included in a Facebook recommendation.

6. Newsfeed update

This update is specifically focused on reducing spams on a user’s newsfeed. This updated algorithm will detect spammers by the total number of posts and not by individual content. According to Tech Times, Facebook identifies anyone sharing 50 or more posts per day as someone who is probably sharing spam or fake news. Also, Facebook has removed the option of editing a link preview – its image, title, and text – before sharing a link on the platform.

7. Profile picture tools exclusively for Indians

Facebook found out that many users do not upload their profile picture out of fear that their picture can be misused online. The first tool that Facebook had brought up in this direction is the optional profile picture guard. Its features are,

>> Restrict other users from downloading, sharing or sending your profile picture as a Facebook message.

>> Restrict others from taking screenshots of your profile picture.

>> Restrict non- FB friends from tagging others or themselves in your profile picture.

8. New fun video features on messenger

This update is more like following the brand wagon. This update allows you to filters, animations, and effects to your video chats.

9. Safety check update

Safety checks allow users to let family and friends know that they are okay during moments of crisis. New updates of this feature include,

>> Users in the US can start fundraisers through safety check.

>> The community help feature will be available for all types of crisis.

>> Users can add personal notes that will be automatically added to their news feed story.

>> its image, title, and text – before sharing a link on the platform.