There are major changes coming to Facebook. 25 new products and tools are set to be unveiled by the major social network within the next year or so.
The biggest change being enacted has to do with Facebook Messenger. The chatting platform is rumoured to become a massive hub for social media marketing users. Facebook users will be able to use advanced photo tools, conduct searches, discuss travel arrangements and perform many other tasks as part of the revamped look. As well, the new platform that will allow app developers to build apps that connects with 600+ million social media users who use Messenger on a daily basis.
The plans to revamp the Facebook Messenger and 24 other tools were revealed yesterday at the annual F8 Developer Conference in San Francisco. The conference was attended by 2,500 developers and highlighted three themes of F8 this year: putting users first, giving users more options to connect through Facebook apps and a snippet of what sharing will be like in the future.
Other notable changes and additions include:
- Businesses on Messenger – an app that reinvents the way Facebook users communicate with businesses.
- LiveRail-mobile app publishers will be permitted to use LiveRail’s monetization platform to manage their video and display ad business.
- Internet of Things – This allows developers to easily use Parse to build a new category of apps for connected devices, such as garage door openers and smoke detectors.
- Spherical Videos – In an interesting move, Facebook will now support 3D, spherical videos in its newsfeeds. You can view the video with your mouse cursor. While spherical video looks a bit strange on a flat screen, the importance here is Facebook’s purchase of the Oculus Rift. Strap on a VR headset and open up a 360° spherical video and it’s almost like you’re at the place.
Both programs will compete with Google’s DoubleClick Platform and YouTube.
Speaking to a crowd of mobile app developers and web developers, Zuckerberg also stated that:
- Facebook drove over 3.5 billion app installations in 2014.
- The social network’s users shared 50 billion pieces of content from apps in the past year.
- 30+ million apps and websites use Facebook’s developer tools.
- Over 80% of the countries’ top 100 grossing iOS and Anderoid apps let users login through Facebook.
- Facebook is monitoring the permissions process of third party apps to ensure that developers aren’t asking for too much information.
http://fortune.com/2015/03/25/facebook-f8-developers-conference-numbers/
