As businesses recover from a year like no other, Facebook Ireland has launched its ‘Peak Season Prep Series’. This free online training will help businesses prepare for and utilise the busiest shopping season of the year to further boost their recovery.
Facebook’s latest State of Small Business report found that Covid-19 generated a shift in how SMEs around the world and in Ireland do business. Online sales became a lifeline during the pandemic to help keep many businesses afloat. The report shows that those who made the pivot to online are still reaping the benefits even as stores physically reopen. Half of Irish SMEs (50%) report that at least 25% of their revenue is generated by digital sales, up from 35% of SMEs in February, demonstrating that customers continue to support businesses online.
Facebook’s free training sessions will help businesses benefit from the pivot to shopping more online and will help them focus on how best to acquire and grow a large customer base. Topics include building an actionable business plan for Christmas, how to optimise creativity and influencer marketing tactics as well as covering key insights around sustainable gifting for environmentally conscious businesses. The next webinar will take place on 7th October at 10am and will guide businesses through a step by step process on how to create impactful ads for the peak shopping season.
Commenting on the importance of supporting businesses as they recover; David Harris, Director of Global Business at Facebook said:
“Last year, shoppers in Ireland were in lockdown for much of the peak holiday shopping season. Consumers had no alternative but to shop online and many businesses underwent a radical process of digital transformation in order to survive. This year, with physical stores reopened, we are expecting a big surge in both online and store sales as the pent up consumer demand that built up during the pandemic is released. Facebook Apps are now a key part of both the online and physical shopping experience. Our peak training series aims to help small Irish businesses utilise the Christmas season efficiently to help boost their post-pandemic recovery.
Ray-Ban and Facebook launched the first pair of smart glasses that combine style and everyday wearability to help you stay present with friends, family, and the world around you. Ray-Ban Stories let you capture, share, and listen in a whole new way, so you can keep your eyes up and stay present in the moment. Ireland is one the initial launch countries. Starting at €329, you can choose from 20 combinations of frame/lens styles from the most iconic frames Ray-Ban offers: Wayfarer, Round or Meteor Ray-Ban. A rather unusual partnership that has turned eyes and then there is the data problem.
Convenient Camera Capture: Instant photo and video (up to 30 seconds) lets you capture spontaneous moments using the dual 5MP cameras on the front of the frames. A capture LED lights up when the cameras are on to notify those around you that photography or recording is taking place. Go hands-free for more convenient capture with Facebook Assistant and the “Hey Facebook” wake word. Simply say, “Hey Facebook, take a photo [or video]” and Ray-Ban Stories will do the rest.
Stylish Design: Choose the frames that fit your style and needs.Ray-Ban Stories comes in three styles: Wayfarer (also available in size Wayfarer L), Round and Meteor, and is offered in five colors and more lens choices, for 20 possible variations.
Built-In Audio: Built-in Bluetooth and a 3-microphone audio array allow you to listen to your favourite media, music, or podcast from any app on your phone and take calls – all from the glasses.
Facebook View App: Edit and enhance the everyday memories captured on Ray-Ban Stories using the Facebook View companion app (iOS and Android) and share them with family and friends, or across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, or any other app of your choice.
Ray-Ban Stories was designed with privacy in mind. We’re taking steps to make sure device owners–and the people around them–feel comfortable, safe, and informed. More information on these efforts, from specific product features to tips for device wearers, can be found in our dedicated microsite.
Today Facebook introduced a new tool to give you more control over what you share to News Feed by managing who can comment on your public posts. Now, you can control your commenting audience for a given public post by choosing from a menu of options ranging from anyone who can see the post to only the people and Pages you tag.
The goal of News Feed is to connect you to what matters most to you: the people in your life, interesting content, and the world around you. The friends you add, the Pages you like, the groups you join, and the things you interact with all shape how your News Feed looks on any given day.
By adjusting your commenting audience, you can further control how you want to invite conversation onto your public posts and limit potentially unwanted interactions. And if you’re a public figure, creator, or brand, you too can choose to limit your commenting audience on your public posts to help you feel safe and engage in more meaningful conversations with your community.
This new tool is the latest example of how we’re helping you control and curate your News Feed to best reflect who you are as your interests and priorities evolve. We also want to continue to help you understand why you see the content you do on News Feed.
Control What You See
In October, Facebook made it easier to sort and browse News Feed, giving you more control over what you see. Facebook launched Favourites, a new tool where you can control and prioritize posts from the friends and Pages you care about most in News Feed. By selecting up to 30 friends and Pages to include in Favourites, their posts will appear higher in ranked News Feed and can also be viewed as a separate filter. People who use Favourites frequently can access it from the Feed Filter Bar, a new menu at the top of News Feed.
The Feed Filter Bar offers easier access to Most Recent too, making it simpler to switch between an algorithmically-ranked News Feed and a feed sorted chronologically with the newest posts first. Android app users can access the Feed Filter Bar when they scroll up on News Feed. The same functionality will be available in the iOS app in the coming weeks. Regardless of how often you use them, you can find Most Recent and Favourites in the Shortcuts menu.
You can also download Facebook videos that you like with FSave to keep content for offline viewing whenever needed. This makes it easier to access your favorite clips without relying on a constant internet connection.
These are just the latest additions to the existing controls suite designed to help you control what you see in News Feed, including tools such as Snooze (where you can temporarily hide posts from a person, Page, or group) and the ability to turn off political ads.
Understand Why You See Suggested Posts in News Feed
To help you discover new and relevant content, Facebook suggest posts in your News Feed from places like Pages and Groups that you don’t already follow, but they think you may be interested in. These post suggestions are primarily based on factors such as post engagement, related topics, and location. Because you haven’t chosen to follow these accounts on Facebook, Facebook have clear guidelines about what content they aim to recommend to people.
Today, they also providing more context around the content we suggest in News Feed by expanding “Why am I seeing this?.” This means that you’ll be able to tap on posts from the friends, Pages, and Groups you follow as well as the posts we suggest to you and get more context on why they’re appearing in your News Feed.
There are several factors that influence your suggested posts in News Feed such as:
Related engagement: A post may be suggested for you if other people who interacted with the post also previously interacted with the same group, Page, or post as you.
Related topics: If you’ve recently engaged with a certain topic on Facebook, we may suggest other posts that are related to that topic. For example, if you recently liked or commented on a post from a basketball Page, we could suggest other posts about basketball.
Location: You may see a suggested post based on where you are and what people near you are interacting with on Facebook.
To update what you want to see and how you share to your News Feed, check out your News Feed preferences and privacy settings in the app and adjust them to your liking. We know that helping you better manage your experience on Facebook can support wellbeing, so we will continue to invest in ways to give you more control and context.
Today, Facebook Ireland is launching a new campaign in partnership with the WHO and its European fact-checking partners to educate people on how to spot false vaccination news. The campaign, ‘Together Against Covid-19 Misinformation’ launches at an important juncture in the roll out of Ireland’s national Covid-19 vaccination programme, which reached a milestone of half a million vaccinations administered at the end of February.
‘Together Against Covid-19 Misinformation’ will roll out to Newsfeeds in Ireland through a series of ads encouraging people to connect with accurate information from credible sources such as Ireland’s Health Services Executive (HSE), and reduce misinformation by asking them to check the following when viewing content online;
1.Check The Source: Scrutinise content, even if it appears science based
2.Check How It Makes You Feel: False news can manipulate feelings for clicks
3.Check The Context: Look to public health authorities to confirm content
Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, Facebook has worked closely with the HSE – and global public health experts – to connect people to accurate information and tackle vaccine misinformation. This campaign has been launched to provide further tools, knowledge and resources to help inform people on how to detect false news – and ultimately stop sharing it.
Between March and October 2020, Facebook removed more than 12 million pieces of Covid-19 misinformation on Facebook and Instagram, and displayed warnings on about 167 million pieces of Covid-19 content on Facebook, pointing to debunking articles written by fact checking partners.
Facebook’s platforms also provide a channel for important public health messages. The HSE is experiencing significant increases in people accessing Covid-19 and vaccine information on their social channels. Since December 30th 2020, the HSE has reached over 9.2 million people on Facebook and had over 573,000 engagements on posts about Covid-19 health messaging. The HSE’s #OurHealthService Covid-19 vaccine stories featuring real people getting the vaccine have reached around 1 million people per post; while their Instagram posts have reached over 669,000 people.
Paul Reid, CEO, HSE said, “Social media is an essential platform for us to communicate and we’ve used it very successfully to communicate our key messages to the majority of the population. We welcome the work Facebook is undertaking to help users spot false news in relation to Covid-19 and vaccines. Public safety remains our top priority and we will continue to share factual, up-to-date information from trusted sources, which will in turn allow people to make informed and confident decisions about Covid-19 vaccines.”
Dualta Ó Broin, Head of Public Policy at Facebook Ireland said, “Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic we have been connecting people to accurate information and reducing misinformation on our platforms. We are removing harmful misinformation about vaccines and Covid-19. .We also want to empower people to decide for themselves what to read, trust, and share. This campaign will encourage users to connect with accurate information around vaccines, and will highlight the broader steps we are taking against misinformation on Facebook.”
For more information, visit Facebook’s new website Taking Action Against Misinformation Across Our Apps which will give people more transparency around Facebook’s Remove, Reduce and Inform strategy, Community Standards, and the steps taken to combat false news around global events such as Covid-19, elections and climate change.
Ahead of Safer Internet Day on Tuesday 9th of February, Facebook Ireland releases online safety tips to help parents and young people stay safe online.
In Ireland, Facebook works with a number of safety experts including a partnership with the National Anti-Bullying Research and Resource Centre at Dublin City University on the FUSE programme which educates teachers, students and parents on bullying, cyberbullying, empathy, reporting and online safety. They also work with SpunOut.ie, Pieta House and Jigsaw to develop content policies, resources and safety guides such as the Facebook Safety Centre, Bullying Prevention Hub and Parent Portal.
Below are tips that have been developed with input from Irish safety partners:
1 – Start a conversation with your child early, before they are on social media
Research shows that children as young as six have access to smartphones or tablets. Start talking to your children about technology, before they hit 13 when they are allowed on social media. If your teen is on Facebook or Instagram, consider friending or following them.
2 – Be mindful of age restrictions
Facebook and Instagram require everyone to be 13 years old before they can create an account.
3 – Let your teen know that the same rules apply online as apply offline
Just as you might tell your child to look both ways before crossing the street or to wear a helmet while riding their bike, teach them to think before they share online or accept a friend request from a stranger.
4 – Ask your teenager to teach you
Not on social media? Or, maybe you’re interested in trying a streaming music service? If there’s a service your teen is using, and you have no idea how it works – ask them to show you. The conversation can also serve as an opportunity to talk about issues of safety, privacy and security. This way you’re empowering them to show you how something works which is probably a nice novelty for them!
5- Identify and seize key moments
For example, when your child gets their first mobile phone, it’s a good time to set ground rules. When they are old enough to join Facebook, Instagram and other social media sites, it’s a good time to talk about safe sharing.
6- Help Them Manage Their Time Online
Try to be a good role model. The adage that children will “do as you do, not as you say” is as true online as it is offline. If you set time restrictions on when your teen can use social media or be online (for example no messaging after 10:00 PM), follow the same rules.
7 – Help them to check and manage their privacy settings.
Once your teen has set up a social media account, they can use tools and settings to help them manage their accounts. Facebook and Instagram, have privacy settings to control who can friend them, who can see their posts, and if they share details such as their location by default. Instagram offers many flexible tools to keep teens safe online including bullying filtering, caption warnings and sensitivity screens. Teens can also restrict unwanted interactions on their profiles and easily report accounts, comments and posts for bullying.
8 – Tell them to report if they see something they are concerned about
As we would in real life, we should treat each other with empathy and respect on social media. For that reason, we’ve developed a set of policies (Community Standards) that define what is and isn’t okay to share on our platforms. There is a link on nearly every Facebook and Instagram post for reporting abuse, bullying, harassment and other issues. Our global teams work 24/7 to review things you report and remove anything that violates our Community Standards. We aim to review the majority of reports within 24 hours.
9 – Make it a shared experience
You can enjoy capturing family moments with film or photo and have fun together editing, adding filters and using the augmented reality features like bunny ears! You could ask your teen what their favourite thing is to do online – perhaps it’s gaming, or talking to their friends, or sharing photos together. You could talk about what you like to do online, and this way you’re sharing technology together – a great conversation starter!
10 – Trust yourself
Typically, you can adopt the same parenting style for your teen’s online activities as you do for their offline activities. If you find that your teen responds best to a negotiated agreement, create a contract that you can both sign. Or, maybe your teen just needs to know the basic rules.
Commenting on Safer Internet Day, Amy McArdle, Safety Policy Manager, EMEA, at Facebook said: “People come to Facebook to share their stories and connect with friends and family, but none of this is possible if people don’t feel safe on our apps. That’s why we’re always working to build a safer and more supportive community. We want to empower people, young and old, to make digitally safe decisions and give them the information they need to navigate an increasingly digital world. This is why we are sharing tips to help parents support their children in staying safe on our platforms.
Darran Heaney, Project Manager of FUSE said; “Young people, parents and teachers are relying more on smartphones and other digital devices for educational and social purposes. This highlights the need for online safety awareness. Education is a key part of the strategy to tackle online bullying and we are delighted to see the numbers of schools, teachers, students and parents taking part in FUSE increasing year on year.
Facebook Ireland today launched a new on-platform campaign to educate users on how to identify and report hate speech on the platform. Over the last few years, Facebook has expanded its policies to provide greater protections to people from different types of abuse and also improved enforcement of these policies.
The educational video which features three questions: What is hate speech?How to stop hate speech?; How to report hate speech? will roll out across Newsfeeds in Ireland from today. It helps Facebook users to understand, identify and report hate speech by explaining;
What is hate speech? Facebook does not allow attacks against any person or group of people based on certain characteristics – like their race, ethnicity, religion, gender, disability or sexual orientation.
How to stop hate speech? If someone uses a known derogatory word to describe a person based on their race, ethnicity, religion, gender, disability or sexual orientation, that’s hate speech.
How to report hate speech? Click the three dots next to the post you’d like to mark as hate speech. Click “Report”, select “Hate speech” and the applicable characteristic. Confirm and file the report.
Facebook removes hate speech when it becomes aware of it through user reports. The company is also taking proactive measures in its approach to tackling hate speech, and has created innovative AI technology designed to identify hateful content. As a result of the rapid advancement of this technology, Facebook proactively detects about 95% of the hate speech content that is removed from the platform.
Commenting on the launch of the campaign, Dualta Ó Broin, Head of Public Policy at Facebook Ireland said “At Facebook, we have a zero-tolerance policy against hate speech but we understand that this doesn’t mean zero-occurrence. We have worked hard and invested substantially to put in place the right tools and technologies to identify and remove any content that contravenes our hate speech policy. We are encouraged to see a strong AI detection rate and we are also encouraging our users to continue to report hate speech in order to improve and maintain the positive user experience for everyone on the platform.”
As part of Facebook’s ongoing policy development process, it seeks input and expertise from a range of stakeholders, including civil society organisations, activist groups, and external experts. In Ireland, Facebook works with INAR (Irish Network Against Racism).
Commenting on the campaign, Claudia Hoareau, Vice-Chair of INAR said, “We welcome this important drive to eliminate hate content from Facebook, and the tools which Facebook have developed for users to work with the platform to report and eliminate hate. Hate speech divides communities, stifles debate, entrenches inequality and silences minorities. We are delighted Facebook is taking a more robust stance, and urge users to take a zero tolerance approach to hate content and to always report.”
Facebook and Instagram have signed an EU Code of Conduct committed to countering the spread of illegal hate speech online.
Earlier this week, Facebook also announced a new measure to combat anti-Semitic hate speech, which will connect people in Ireland with authoritative information about the Holocaust. Anyone who searches on Facebook for terms associated with either the Holocaust or Holocaust denial, will see a message from Facebook encouraging them to connect with credible information about the Holocaust off Facebook.
To learn more about tackling hate speech on Facebook, view the educational video at Facebook Ireland.
A consumer analytics company – passively measured consumer behaviour 24/7 including all their TV viewing (content and ads), online behaviour as well as offline store visits. The analysis on the impact of TV advertising on online platforms was conducted in sectors such as supermarkets, automotive, travel, insurance, financial services, lottery, gambling and online clothing, which represent a cross section of products associated with both impulse and considered purchases.
Overall, the data shows that consumers who clicked on an online ad or visited the advertisers’ website, watched on average 39% more TV ads by that advertiser in the previous week than users who did not click on an ad or visit the website. The study shows that TV’s effect on Facebook clicks was the highest and users who clicked on a FB ad saw 48% more TV adverts of that brand in the previous week than users who did not click on an ad. Users who visited the brands’ websites watched an average of 28% more adverts and users who clicked on a Google ad saw an average of 42% more TV ads. When embarking into the world of paid ads, it is important to source a reputable PPC management company to get the best results for your investment.
The best performing sectors were gambling and online clothes, where those who interacted online with brands – were exposed to 68% and 47% respectively – more TV adverts than those who hadn’t. Within these sectors, for brands such as Coral those who clicked on their adverts or visited their website were exposed to a massive 117% more Coral TV adverts than other gamblers. For Jacamo, in the online clothing sector, this figure was 85%.
The Facebook and Google duopoly now account for 60% of all digital advertising expenditure globally or USD $144.6 billion, but their success is clearly being propped by TV advertising who continues to be the most effective medium at brand building and driving online clicks
ViewersLogic’s single-source data shows unequivocally that TV drives online traffic but in recent years online advertising became the tool of choice for marketers because it offered better measurability than TV advertising. ViewersLogic technology can, for the first time, see the whole consumer journey both online and offline and measure accurately how our exposure to TV adverts results in consumers wanting to find out more about a product or a brand by following it through online up to the product purchase. Crucially, its technology can now also measure for the first time, how much brands really spend on generating clicks through online ads by factoring in the impact TV advertising had on generating each online interaction.
For Henry Daglish, the founder of boutique marketing agency Bountiful Cow this new data provides compelling evidence that marketing campaigns need to be more aligned across TV and online to drive sales effectively through advertising. Mr. Daglish said: ‘’Over recent years TV advertising expenditure has shrunk as brands have increasingly shifted their budgets online attracted by better measurability and segmentation but ViewersLogic’s data has now shown us that, if used correctly, TV drives the greatest improvement in online performance. This opened for us a new area of analytics and performance improvement that we are now sharing with our clients’’
Other studies have shown a clear correlation between a decrease in sales and a reduction in TV ad spend, not only TV advertising has an immediate impact on sales but it is also proved that it manages to significantly enhance the impact of digital advertising. Despite compelling evidence, recently released data by Media Audits shows that TV now account for less than a quarter of ad expenditure in the UK compared to online with over 50%, and this is predicted decline even further this year. With the cost of an advertising slot on TV becoming considerable cheaper, its proven effectiveness at brand building and driving online traffic is it time for smart brands to get back on TV?
DATA FINDINGS BY INDUSTRY SECTOR
Gambling •
Gambling was the best performing sector and those who interacted with the brands online saw an average of 68% more ads by the same brand in the previous week than other gamblers who did not visit the site (in this case we compared this just with other gamblers to neutralise other influence). • Coral performed particularly well – users who interacted with the brand online saw an average of 117% more of the brand’s TV ads in the previous week than other gamblers who did not interact with Coral. On the other hand, PaddyPower users saw only 30% more Paddy Power TV ads in the week before interacting with the brand, compared to other gamblers.
Online clothing •
Of the sectors measured online clothing was the second best performing and those who went on to click on a Google or Facebook advert or onto a brand’s website had seen 47% more TV adverts by that brand in the week before the interaction than those who had not (in this case we compared this just with other online clothing shoppers to neutralise other demographic influence (e.g. if online clothes shoppers see more ads than the general population). • Jacamo was particularly successful compared to their competitors and people who interacted with the brand online either through an advert or by visiting their website saw on average 85% more Jacomo ads than other online shoppers.
Financial Services •
Out of all the sectors measured the financial services showed the lowest effect of TV on online behaviour and on average those who interacted with this sector online, saw 19% more ads in the previous week. • The data shows that Totally Money was by far the most successful financial brand in converting its TV audience into clicks and users who interacted with the brand online, saw 69% more Totally Money TV ads in the previous week. • Companies such as Experian, Money Supermarket and uSwitch had a poor cross-media performance and users who interacted with these brands saw only 2% more of their TV ads in the week before the interaction.
Lottery •
Online clickers on Facebook/Google ads and visitors to the lottery companies’ websites had watched 35% more TV adverts than those who did not, in the week before the interaction took place. • The Postcode Lottery adverts performed better than its competitors and people who clicked through online on Facebook/Google ads and visited the company’s website, saw 55% more Postcode Lottery TV ads.
Supermarkets •
Consumers that clicked through supermarket ads online saw 35% more TV ads in the previous week than users who did not click. • In this sector, Iceland had by far the most successful cross-media campaign, and overall, users who visited the brand’s site or app were exposed to 39% more Iceland TV ads in the previous week. Users who clicked on an Iceland ad on Google or Facebook were exposed to 64% more TV ads in the week before clicking. • Waitrose was the worst performer in this sector and users who clicked on its online ads were exposed to only 12% more Waitrose TV adverts in the week before clicking.
Automotive •
People who interacted with car brands online saw 24% more TV ads than users who did not interact with these brands. • People who clicked on a Ford or Vauxhall ad online saw 18% more TV ads in the week before clicking than other users. Nissan’s cross-media campaign was more effective and people who interacted with the brand online saw 45% more Nissan TV ads in the previous week. • For Vauxhall, users who clicked on a Google ad saw only 3% more TV adverts in the previous week, suggesting that their TV campaign wasn’t particularly successful in driving people to search for the brand.
Travel •
Because the travel industry has been severely affected over the last three months, ViewersLogic did the analysis until the end of February and saw that users who interacted with travel brands were exposed, on average, to 25% more TV ads in the week before, than those who did not interact with these brands. • Jet2 had the best performing TV campaign in this sector and those who interacted with the brand online had watched 45% more Jet2 TV ads. Their TV campaign has a specifically good effect on their FB advertising where people who clicked on a FB ad, were exposed to 77% more Jet2 TV adverts than other users. • Perhaps surprisingly, one the biggest travel brands internationally Booking.com, had a poor cross-media campaign and users who interacted with the brand saw only 7% more TV ads of this brand, compared to other users.
Insurance •
In this sector, those who interacted with insurance brands online had watched 26% more TV ads. • LV Insurance was especially successful in converting their TV audience into online activity and users who interacted with the brand online, saw 49% more LV TV ads in the week before. They did particularly well on Facebook where users who clicked on an LV FB ad were exposed to 115% more TV ads.
Most successful brands by online platform • Brands own website o Bet365 – +185%
• Facebook ads o Jacamo – 131%
• Google ads o Ladbrokes – +244%
• Overall Most successful cross-media campaign o Coral – +117%
Facebook have today said they will now send out Amber Alerts,these have been become a bit more common now especially here in Ireland when a notification goes out to all forms of media and can be pushed to your device,you would also see them on Motorway signs too.
The new initiative will deliver AMBER Alerts to people’s News Feeds in targeted search areas after a child has been abducted and the National Center has issued an alert.
These alerts, which include photographs and other details about the missing child, are shown on mobile and desktop. People can share the alert with friends and link directly to the National Center’s missing child poster, which always has the most up-to-date information about the case.
For years, people have used Facebook to post news articles about missing children and AMBER Alerts. In several cases, someone saw a post or photo in their News Feed, took action, and a child was safely returned.
Law enforcement determines the range of the target area for each alert. The number of alerts people will see depends on how many alerts are issued in their area — some people may see a few each year and many people will likely get no alerts at all. The alerts will appear in News Feed, but will not trigger any notifications to a person’s phone.
Facebook have plans to make videos of the past when you die,this falls into the question many people ask what happens to your digital legacy now facebook are moving in on this territory..
As members of Facebook’s Community Operations team, we talk to people who use Facebook every day and we’re committed to making their experience better. Some of the people who reach out to us are grieving the death of a friend or family member, and they usually ask for their loved one’s timeline to be memorialized.
Over the past several months, we’ve been thinking about and working on better ways for people to remember loved ones. As we continue to think through each aspect of memorialization, we ask ourselves questions that have no easy answers: How might people feel? Are we honoring the wishes and legacy of the person who passed away? Are we serving people who are grieving the loss of a loved one as best we can?
Based on conversations inspired by these questions, we’ve decided to make an important change to how we preserve legacies on Facebook. Up to now, when a person’s account was memorialized, we restricted its visibility to friends-only. This meant that people could no longer see the account or any of its content unless they were Facebook friends with the person who passed away. Starting today, we will maintain the visibility of a person’s content as-is. This will allow people to see memorialized profiles in a manner consistent with the deceased person’s expectations of privacy. We are respecting the choices a person made in life while giving their extended community of family and friends ongoing visibility to the same content they could always see.
Today, we’re also glad to begin offering a way for anyone who has suffered the loss of a loved one to see that person’s “Look Back” video. In recognition of our ten-year anniversary, a group of our engineers created personal movies for people using some of the posts and photos they had shared over the years. For one man in Missouri, the Look Back video he was most desperate to watch was one that had not yet been made. John Berlin reached out to ask if it was possible for Facebook to create a video for his son, Jesse, who passed away in 2012. We had not initially made the videos for memorialized accounts, but John’s request touched the hearts of everyone who heard it, including ours.
Since then, many others have asked us to share the Look Back videos of their loved ones, too, and we’re now glad to be able to fulfill those requests (video requests can be made here).
Changes like this are part of a larger, ongoing effort to help people when they face difficult challenges like bereavement on Facebook. We will have more to share in the coming months as we continue to think through how best to help people decide how they want to be remembered and what they want to leave behind for loved ones.
