Facebook F8 Keynote: Instagram Gets Video Chat, Dating Comes to FB
Facebook F8 developer conference sees Mark Zuckerberg highlight some key developments in the app.
Facebook is holding its ninth developer conference in the United States, which started at 10:30 pm Indian Standard Time (IST).
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, Facebook, used this platform to share his company’s roadmap for the future, which had hit a major hurdle since the revelation of data misuse via Cambridge Analytica.
Zuckerberg made announcements that more or less tried to strike a balance between keeping both users as well the developers on its side.
That's the end of Zuckerberg's Keynote
The lively 30-minute keynote briefing from Mark Zuckerberg comes to an end. He leaves the stage to let the product guys speak to the 5,000 developers present at the venue. And that’s our cue to sign off from this live blog. Stay tuned to The Quint for more updates and stories from F8.
Oculus Go Launched
The Oculus Go virtual reality headset goes official. The standalone VR headset has been priced at $199 (Rs 13,500 approx) and is ready to be shipped. But that’s not all.
Everyone at the Facebook F8 just got lucky as Facebook is handing out the Oculus Go headsets to everyone who is attending the event. Not a bad way to try out the first-of-its-kind device from Oculus. It can connect directly to a network, without the need for a PC or a phone.
New Look Facebook Messenger Incoming
Not too many details were revealed about this by Mark. So, probably this feature is still in the works. By the looks of it, Messenger’s design interface is likely to become cleaner and more on the lines of Material Design of Android maybe?
New Features come to WhatsApp
Video calling is one of the most popular features on WhatsApp. Around the world people are making 2 billion minutes of calls. Zuckerberg announced group video calling for WhatsApp as a new feature.
Video Chatting on Instagram, Anyone?
Looks like Facebook wants all of its products to cater to video chatting. After Messenger and WhatsApp, it’s now Instagram’s turn to get the feature.
You get AR camera effects and can chat with multiple people at the same time. You can build face filters and effects. Pretty cool, that.
Facebook Dating - The New Tinder?
Looks like Facebook is entering into the dating territory now. It announced a dating feature within the Facebook app that will allow users to connect with people outside their network and ask them out.
How it works is, users can create a dating profile within the app, that their own friends won't be able to see. However, users can then select events or groups with common interests and share their dating profile there. Then the app helps match them with other users who have shared their dating profile in the same event or group.
Watch Party comes to Facebook
Mark manages to add bit of humour to the keynote by showing the live feed from his Congressional hearing. This was his demo for the Watch Party feature that will basically allow multiple users to interact with each other, while watching the live stream. Zuckerberg hopes he wouldn’t have to be part of major hearings for a long time now. Not sure about that, Mark.
Commentators can also insert their faces in the app and video comment on happenings that are streaming live.
Facebook Lets You Clear History
Yep, that’s part of Facebook’s big plan to help users take care of their privacy concerns. Very soon, users on Facebook can make sure that all of their search and internet history on the platform can be cleared. This is similar to what you’ve been doing on Google Chrome and Firefox browsers for a long time now.
Facebook's Mission to Tackle Fake News
As repeatedly highlighted by Zuckerberg during the Congressional hearing, he pledges setting up a team of 20,000 people to control the quality of content circulated on Facebook.
Facebook has plans to build various levels of defence mechanisms against such content and users, and here’s a timeline of what it has been doing, according to the Facebook CEO.
Zuckerberg is Here
Loud cheering as Mark Zuckerberg kickstarts Facebook F8 2018 with his keynote and sharing his vision for the company’s future. We have come across incidents that highlight the need to become aware and responsible.
What Else to Expect at Facebook F8
Facebook is more than just a social networking giant now, and with products like Oculus under its helm, expect some virtual reality-laden hardware unveiling on the sidelines of the keynote. Speaking of which, less than 5 minutes to go before Zuckerberg takes the stage.
Facebook to get Clear History feature
Mark Zuckerberg, right before the event begins, has made the big announcement that Facebook, in the coming months will allow users to clear their history from its platform. This, he thinks could ensure that user data doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. He’s even put out a post on Facebook detailing its purpose.
We’ll probably hear more about that from Mark in his keynote, which is 15 minutes away from now.
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