Facebook has been working very hard lately. In their blog, they have posted updates in their photo viewer feature and new sharing options. Both updates represent a nice boost to the Facebook system, and more now than ever since they are fighting against the simplicity of Google+ Circles.
Ok let’s get started with the updates in the Photo Viewer.
Being Facebook the top photo sharing website, their photo viewer system and quality of the pictures were something that heavy users and common users were complaining of. So, they starting to solve that. First they did it with the black lightbox, which allowed us to upload and share high resolution pictures.
Now with this major update, things change a little bit. First thing that we can notice when you see a picture in Facebook now is the size of the images.
Pretty impressive 960 pixels wide and with a new white lightbox, which according to Facebook is to make more emphasis on the photos. The second thing that Facebook announce related to this is that the pictures now load twice as fast, giving you quicker access to more detailed images. It is cool to upload faster and we can share and view high resolution pictures, but being Facebook the top photo sharing site in the world it is lacking of something. In my opinion, basic photo edition tools should be integrated (i.e. Contrast, Brightness, Sharpness, Crop, etc) to let us customize a bit more our photos.
It is very good to see that Facebook is fighting against Google+ by improving the photo experience.
But not only photo experience was updated and improved. Facebook did a major update on the sharing options too.
Facebook at last heard its users!. Now you can approve photos you’ve been tagged in on Facebook before they show up in your profile. Very well done. For me, this is the most important of all the updates.
Moreover, they have moved the privacy settings right where you can see it. The right location it had to be since the first time. Also the status update “everyone” was change to “public”. This was nobody is confused anymore.
But that is not all. A long awaited feature is now a reality: tag people you are not friends with. I do not understand why the delay was?. In my opinion, Facebook thought they were untouchables and they could just focus on business instead customer needs. But Google just demonstrated the opposite: they are completely vulnerable.
But this is not about Google+. Continuing with Facebook and its updates. Since day one, you know that by default, the photos in which your friends have tagged you will automatically be added to your profile. But!, you can send all those photos to a review and approval queue. At long last!
The tagging and detag features were improved to be a complement of this queue. Now besides detag yourself from a shameful photo, you can also remove a tagged picture from your profile. A brand new dialog box will appear with several options for you to choose. Nice move.
Going in together with the status update, now everytime you want to share something you can select the right people that you want to share with. This is exactly the same a Google+ Circles essence.
The main difference between this and G+ Circles is that now can change who can see any post after you posted it. If something was not shared to the group you wanted, you can adjust it with the inline control at any time. Very clever.
Why all this major updates suddenly? the answer is simple: Google+. As I mentioned before, Facebook was too busy in making money that they forgot about the customer’s needs. Google+ just offered what they wanted and for Facebook user’s shift was something to fear. So taking this into consideration, Facebook just “updated” its features to once again fight at same level as Google+.
And what about you? what do you think about this major updates?
