Last week, Facebook held its first ever Press Day, calling influential members from the global media to discuss Facebook’s future plans and to showcase what the social network has in store for its users in the coming months and years.
Between 11-12 June 2019, the memorable event took place at Facebook’s HQ and the company shared updates on various projects and how it’s dealing with recent issues and resolving such problems with its new and upgraded projects.
Facebook Groups
Over time, Facebook Groups has evolved into a place for people to connect with others from around the world who share common interests. We recently launched a suite of product changes, making Groups a central part of people’s Facebook experience.
There are now over 400 million people who belong to a group they find meaningful. Some groups are more informational, some are lighthearted, while others offer emotional support.
Facebook Stories
Facebook Stories is a way to share your everyday stories while in the moment. The way people share and connect has changed. So, we’re working to help people connect in more meaningful ways. More than 500 million people use stories across FB and IG every single day.
Some of the latest features from stories include events in stories, group stories, and birthday stories.
Facebook Dating
For a long time, people have used Facebook to connect with friends and meet new ones. Currently, there are more than 200 million people who have listed themselves as single in their relationship status on Facebook. Many of them already use Facebook to start meaningful relationships.
We view this as an incredible opportunity to connect people should they choose to explore meaningful romantic relationships. We are currently out to 19 countries around the world and will be in the U.S. later this year. Some of the latest features from Facebook Dating include Secret Crush and Share Live Location.
Facebook Gaming
Gaming powers largest and most engaged communities on Facebook, with more than 700 million people playing games, watching gaming videos, or engaging in gaming groups each month. Our latest product includes a dedicated Facebook Gaming tab on the home navigation bar of Facebook to make it easy for people to find and connect around their favorite games, streamers, groups, and more.
We’re also continuing to grow programs for gaming creators to livestream games on Facebook, build a community around their content and earn a living at the same time.
Memorialization
People turn to Facebook to find solace after the tragic loss of a loved one. One of Facebook’s core missions is to give people the power to build community — and we’ve designed memorialization with this in mind. Over 30 million people view memorialized profiles every month to post stories, commemorate milestones and remember those who have passed away.
Recently, we announced updates to make this experience even more supportive for those in need. Our priority is to provide communities with the best possible tools to honor loved ones and support each other while preserving the digital legacy of the deceased for generations to come.
Facebook Controls
Controls have always been fundamental to what we build, whether it’s for News Feed, ads, or privacy settings. We’ve invested in these tools, but now with more content available than ever, we’re working to educate people around the controls they have at their disposal. These controls include ones to personalize your experience and the content you see from friends and family, as well as controls you have over your information, both in terms of the ads we surface and your privacy settings.
At the end of the day, we consider it our responsibility to build and provide controls so people can personalize the content they see and the information they share.
AR/VR
The AR/VR organization at Facebook builds new, category-defining consumer hardware and software products that provide immersive social experiences and increase the depth of connections people can have with friends and family. Our Portal line of consumer hardware is changing how friends and families connect through video presence. Launched in the United States in Fall 2018, Portal began shipping in Canada June 4, and will begin shipping in Europe later this year.
Our Spark AR platform is one of the largest augmented reality platforms in the world and more than 1 Billion people have used augmented reality experiences across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Portal in a year. We’re also providing more immersive, richer experiences through virtual reality, and we’ve introduced our first generation of Oculus products.
Oculus Quest is the VR product everyone has been waiting for, our first all-in-one VR headset without needing a PC or external sensors. Rift S is the updated version of our popular Rift headset. And, Oculus Go is great for watching immersive entertainment and expands VR to more people beyond gaming.
Facebook Watch
Facebook Watch is our destination for videos on Facebook. It’s much more than just a library of great videos — in Watch, people can follow video creators they care about, start conversations about videos with friends, and join communities of fans who share their interests.
Today we announced a number of updates related to Facebook Watch, including:
Well-Being
We’ve invested in research over the years to get a better understanding of the net impact of Facebook on well-being. We use tactics such as surveys, focus groups, and meeting people where they are to understand what we should build, do, or change our products. What we’ve found is that when Facebook is used intentionally, it can be used to enhance social relationships.
More broadly, Facebook is a platform where people fulfill important needs like belonging, support, accomplishment, and pursuing interests – uniquely powered by access to social connections. That being said, there is still a great deal of work to do both from the research and product side and we’ve invested in the space.
Get the latest tech news, telecom insights, and product launches wherever you prefer.
Add ProPakistani to Preferred Sources and see more of our stories in Google Search and Top Stories.