The official Facebook developers event, F8 drew over 5,000 attendees from across the globe this year, all keen to learn about the future of the technology under the Facebook brand.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the event started with a focus on a new privacy mantra for the company, inspired no doubt by the scrutiny that Facebook has seen since the Cambridge Analytica Scandal. The theme of the event seemed to focus on delivering innovation without compromising on privacy.
When Zuckerberg opened the two-day event, he discussed his vision to create a more private social platform, where people could feel safe expressing themselves and connecting with others online.
Let's look at some of the biggest reveals we saw from F8 2019:
Delivering a Safer Social Channel with AI
Artificial Intelligence has a strong part to play in the development of products and services offered by Facebook. The company has used intelligent systems in the past to detect content that violates the terms and conditions of the platform. However, now, Facebook is working even harder to track and remove problematic content.
Using advances in Natural Language Processing, Facebook have built a common translation language, so that they can capture signs of harmful content like hate speech, bullying, and harassment in different languages. The company has also invested in a new strategy for object recognition named Panoptic FPN, which helps Facebook to check for inappropriate content in the background of photos too.
Self-supervised learning algorithms will also be training on the Facebook platform going forward, helping the brand to understand better and prevent policy violations.
Facebook Messenger Updates: Ads Messenger for Business
The Facebook team also revealed a range of updates to their Messenger service this year, including the promise of a lighter, more reliable application. Going forward, customers will have the option to download a messenger desktop app, watch videos with friends in real-time, and track down contacts through their messenger system.
Most importantly (at least for our readers), Facebook is also making it easier for companies to connect with their leads and existing customers too. Lead generation templates are coming to the Facebook Ads Manager, which will allow companies to create ads that push people towards simple Q&A sessions in messenger. This will help brands to learn more about their customers and make it easier for clients to book appointments, and set up interactions with companies.
Introducing Business Catalogs for WhatsApp
Zuckerberg and the Facebook team won't be letting their acquisition of WhatsApp go to waste this year. According to the company, they'll be releasing a new way to help businesses and customers connect through this platform too.
With the arrival of the new WhatsApp Business catalogue, you'll find new ways to connect with your clients in the months to come. Users will be able to see a business catalogue within their WhatsApp application when talking to a company. This allows brands to showcase their most popular products so that clients can buy them easily.
Updating the Facebook UI
You may have already noticed some changes to your Facebook UI lately. Once again, the company is refreshing its interface design to ensue that users have a more comfortable experience when interacting with friends and family. The updated UI puts Facebook Groups at the centre of Facebook, to help connect people on a deeper level.
What's more, the FB5 design is simpler, more effective and faster, so that people can interact without having to worry about unnecessary distractions. The new attempts to make Facebook's UI more immersive are sure to extend over into the Facebook Workplace experience going forward too. We're interested to see how these changes will make a difference in the way you use Facebook to facilitate your business conversations.
