Facebook’s popular “On This Day” prompt is now two years old. It surfaces your memories from the past year, letting you revisit them and share a new post to remind others involved. Facebook’s now moving to add more options to the feature after noticing its success.
In a news post today, the company said it wants to help people recap their memories and celebrate their friendships. On This Day will move away from being a one-time trip to the past, evolving into a versatile memory catcher that summarises your experiences.
First, Facebook’s going to start bundling related memories together. It will remind you of all your posts from the past month or season. You might see memory recap stories that showcase your posts from the summer or the photos you took over a holiday weekend.
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Facebook’s also preparing ways of reminding you of your impact on its platform. It’s going to start emphasising your most successful posts, calling out milestones in your Facebook history through new memory stories. You might see a story when you’ve reached a notable number of friends or a post has acquired a large number of likes.
Like all On This Day stories, memory highlights won’t be posted publicly by default. You’ll be shown the story in your News Feed first, giving you a chance to review what’s included. If you want to remind others of the event, you can choose to share the memory to your timeline.
Finally, Facebook’s refining the way in which it picks posts to use as memories. It’s incorporating machine learning to intelligently work out which memories you’re most likely to revisit. Not every post necessarily carries a positive sentiment. The AI will filter out posts you might not want to be reminded of, leaving you with “relevant and enjoyable” stories.
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“People come to Facebook to experience, share and talk about some of the most important moments happening in their lives, communities and around the world. Many of these moments are reminiscing past memories and moments between friends,” said Facebook. “We know how much people cherish their friendships and memories, which is why we approach these experiences with sensitivity and care. Our goal is to create a supportive environment that allows you to express your feelings and connect with what matters to you and your community.”
The new features are rolling out now to Facebook’s mobile apps for iOS and Android. The company said it will continue to refine and expand them going forward. More sharing prompts will be added over time.
