Facebook Messenger’s ‘Photo Magic’ feature automates photo sharing with your loved ones

Too lazy to send the shots you took with your friends? A new feature for Facebook Messenger that’s being tested on Android in Australia can scan the shots in your smartphone for you to look for your Facebook friends and then suggest to send these to the people it finds. It makes sharing quite easy but it might not sit well with people who think Facebook is encroaching a bit too much on your privacy yet again by going through your photos.

How it works is once you take a photo (and you have the feature enabled, of course), a notification will pop up to ask you if you want to send the photo to your friend—right from the notification. Facebook Product Manager Lexy Franklin says you will have full control of the feature. You can turn off facial recognition for yourself and disable notifications if you want. It’ll still be up to you how to use the feature once it makes its way here, which it probably would.

Source: TechCrunch | Via: 9to5Mac

Facebook to reportedly launch ‘Notify’ news app next week

Facebook is said to be taking on the likes of Apple’s News app with its own standalone news app next week. According to the Financial Times, Apple will be launching an app called Notify and they’ve partnered with the likes of CBS, The Washington Post, Comedy Central, CNN, and Vogue. Unlike other news apps, Notify will reportedly notify users when new stories develop instead of users having to go to the app to discover content. Facebook has been developing experiences and features to help bring news and media easier to its users, like Instant Articles. We have to wait and see if there’s any truth to the rumours and how this app would fare if it were to be unveiled in the coming week.

Source: Financial Times | Via: 9to5Mac

Facebook brings expanded notification options to mobile

A new update for Facebook on Android and iOS is bringing an “expanded, personalized notifications tab” to you. This will show everything from updates of your friends, joining notifications, info about friends’ birthdays, live events, sports scores, TV shows, and even updates about certain locations if you have Location History enabled. Facebook though won’t change your existing notifications settings if those are okay with you. The adjustment options will just show up within the Settings so you can make changes as you see fit. Rollout is happening gradually for both operating systems in the US. If successful there, hopefully it makes its way here.

Source: Facebook | Via: SlashGear

Facebook makes it easier to message strangers

This might be a boon or a bane for you but an upcoming Facebook Messenger feature will give you access to messages from people you aren’t Facebook friends with. Before, when you get messages from people you aren’t friends with, these messages get relegated to the Other section of your inbox. You also don’t get notifications for these. The new Message Requests feature will have these messages show up on Messenger as a message request. You can read the message and choose to respond to it or not, without the other person knowing. If you use Facebook to network, this might help you out. The feature is rolling out in the coming days.

Source: Mashable