Everything You Need to Know About Facebook F8 2018
If you were Barry Allen accidentally time traveling to May 1, 2018 from two years in the past, you might think Facebook F8 2018 was business as usual. However, you would be dead wrong.
F8 2018 was indeed the biggest event yet of its kind- unfolding across two days with 50 sessions attended by 5000 guests. The series of unexpected events leading up to F8, however, resulted in a quieter affair than expected. However, the shadow of the Cambridge Analytica scandal still loomed large over the McEnery Convention Center at San Jose, CA. In fact, A a rumored plan to unveil an Alexa competitor was nixed at the last minute.
After all, now might be the wrong time to ask the world to trust Facebook with even more personal information, gathered through devices that are always on, always listening and memorizing how you speak.
Balancing such weighty issues on his spry shoulders, Mark Zuckerberg took to the stage on 1 PM EST to kick off the keynote address.
A Renewed Commitment to Data Privacy
Zuckerberg highlighted new election transparency tools, to set a higher standard for advertising across the social network. This included account verification and information about media buyers.
He also identified three areas of fake news that Facebook is planning to curb: spam, fake accounts, and fake news/conspiracy theories.
In direct response to the Cambridge Analytica fallout, Facebook is currently investigating every app that had similar data access permissions before the 2014 policy revisions.
From Tinder to Messenger: The Next Step in Online Dating?
In a daring move, Zuckerberg next announced the addition of a dating section to Facebook’s app. In retrospect, this move should surprise no one, considering Facebook’s humble beginnings as an unlikely matchmaker in 2004.
The announcement has major repercussions for Match Group, the dating heavyweight that owns Tinder, Match, OkCupid and PlentyofFish. Match Group’s share plunged by 17% immediately after the announcement. The Group’s executives, however, took the news with great stride.
“Come on in. The water’s warm,” said Joey Levin, the CEO of IAC, majority owner of Match Group. “Their product could be great for US / Russia relationships.”
The dating feature is geared for long-term relationships instead of hookups. Instead of recommending friends, the feature is going to curate suggestions from outside of usual network. Facebook’s take on dating is also community-oriented. It takes cues from apps like Meetup and features events and groups prominently.
Instagram Overhaul: Video Chat, Explore and App Integration
Instagram added a slew of new features at F8, such as a group video chat and a redesigned Explore page. The idea is to turn the app into a full-fledged messaging service. This is a natural step forward from its current photo-sharing stage. To that end, if you use the Spotify or the GoPro apps, you can now share your content via Instagram Stories.
Whatsapp Gets a Video Chat, too!
Hot on the heels of the Instagram announcements, Whatsapp also announced its own group video chat feature. It’s a long-awaited addition that puts the app on level ground with old rivals such as Skype. Other changes in store included stickers and business-oriented features.
With Oculus Go, Facebook takes a deeper dive into VR
The Oculus Go, a standalone VR headset that doesn’t require a flagship smartphone, officially went on sale on the first day of F8. Zuckerberg called it the ‘easiest way to get into VR’. The Oculus Go does make notable improvements to the Gear VR. However, it’s biggest achievement is making VR content more easily available to the masses.
Oculus is working on several projects to enrichen the content library of the Go and Gear VR devices. These include an immersive VR theater experience, developed in collaboration with real-world actors performing motion capture. Facebook has also partnered with camera maker RED to develop a professional-grade virtual reality camera system that can capture footage in six degrees of freedom, or 6DoF.
Lastly, Oculus is launching a dedicated Oculus TV app that will feature content from partners such as Showtime, Netflix, Hulu and ESPN. Featuring a virtual home theater, Oculus Go also signifies the push for more non-gaming content on the Oculus ecosystem.
Messenger Gets a Makeover
Facebook is simplifying the user experience of the Messenger app, getting rid of superfluous add-ons like games. The bottom navigation has been pared down to three central tabs, while the the camera and video chat icons remain at the upper right corner.
Facebook is also adding automated translations to make communications easier between buyers and sellers in Facebook Marketplace. When users conduct a transaction and they receive a message in a language other than their default language, Messenger’s M bot will offer to translate it on their behalf.
The Gist of It
To sum up, lots of announcements: some of them genuinely exciting and some of them mostly mundane. The idea that F8 is supposed to convey, it seems, is that everything is alright, for the most part.
Get excited about the Tinder alternative and get ready for the next step of mobile VR. Don’t worry about your data security- Facebook’s best and brightest are working very, very hard on that.
