A lot. Facebook is constantly evolving its platform in order to keep things exciting for its users—and also to add some friendly competition with other platform services. Here’s a quick rundown on a few of the latest changes.
In addition to Facebook pixels, Facebook introduced a new Ads Manager app for iOS devices. With more than two million active advertisers on Facebook, the mobile app offers on-the-go power to manage ads from anywhere. Using the app, marketers can track ad performance, create or edit existing ads, edit budgets & schedules and receive push notifications.
And if you love the big standalone Messenger app platform for Facebook mobile, you’ll be excited to know that they’ve just released a Messenger app for the web.
They’ve also re-worked their mobile Messenger app platform to include video calling. Similar to Google Hangouts, Apple’s FaceTime and Microsoft’s Skype—Messenger already offers the ability to make voice calls, and the expansion of video calling will allow the 600 million people who use Messenger every month to reach others wherever they are—and from anywhere. Another unique feature is the low bandwidth requirement when making video calls, meaning it’s fast, reliable and easier to make calls through WiFi and LTE. And the introduction of Hello, let’s you see who’s calling and block any unwanted calls. Hello works with your interactions on Facebook, and doesn’t need the caller to be in your contacts. Coming soon is the Messenger for Business platform that will offer the ability for shoppers to sign up for updates via Facebook Messenger. With this new feature, all purchase info (receipts, confirmation emails, shipping notifications, as well as customer service issues) will come in one handy Facebook message thread. Dealing with customer orders or issues will become much more streamlined with a direct interaction that is off the Facebook wall.
You may have also noticed a couple of features over the last few days with the recent tragedies in Nepal. The Safety Check feature (which was announced last October), checks in with you if you’re near a natural disaster. Facebook determines your location by looking at the city listed in your profile (or by seeing where you checked in if you use the Nearby Friends feature) and then sends you a notification asking if you’re safe. Your anxious friends list can be notified quickly of your safety and also help to zero in on those still missing. In addition to this feature, there is also a Donate feature that allows folks the opportunity to help support those in affected areas. Facebook also matches every dollar donated up to $2 million—which is distributed to local relief and rescue organizations actively working to provide urgent resources to those who need it.
With 1.44 billion active monthly users, Facebook continues to develop products that combine technology, creativity, and humanity.
