Facebook has been quite busy testing, tweaking and adding updates to its platform. In this blog post, we have collated the ones which have caught our eye.
Clear History Tool
Its arrival has been imminent since it was first mentioned back in May 2018 but we are seemingly a step closer to a ‘Clear History Tool’ on Facebook. The tool is designed to enable you to see which apps and websites send Facebook information when you’re using them (from the Facebook pixel, the login with Facebook button, the ‘like’ button and Facebook comments on another site). You will have the option to remove the information from your account and disable Facebook’s ability to store this information.
You can read Facebook’s blog post unveiling the tool here. This tool could have detrimental effects on how Facebook ad targeting works, depending on how many users choose to remove their history and disable the link to Facebook.
The tool has launched in Ireland, South Korea and Spain with a full rollout expected in the “coming months”.
Groups
Group Types
Facebook is changing the types of groups from Public, Closed and Secret to Public and Private. Public groups – anyone can see who is in the group and everything that is shared in the group. Private groups – only members can see who is in the group and what has been posted. A private group can be Visible or Hidden.
- A group that was formerly ‘secret’ will now be ‘private’ and ‘hidden’.
- A group that was formerly ‘closed’ will now be ‘private’ and ‘visible’.
- A group that was ‘public’ will remain ‘public’ and ‘visible’.
Chats
The Group chat functionality, which was launched in Oct 2018 will be removed from 22nd August. This is probably to prevent spam.
Facebook Stories
Facebook is testing a way to make it easier to share updates to both your personal and/or business page story. The test shows a prompt to share to either your personal Story, your Pages’ Story or both. It could be useful if you have a business page and you have a promotion or a message that you want to ensure a wider audience reach.
Another feature added to Facebook Stories that is starting to roll out is the option that allows users to add a series of still images to create a slide show.
Pop-up Cafes
If you are in and around the UK between August 28th and 5th September, you may come across a Facebook Cafe. The cafes are aiming to help people understand their privacy settings and come complete with a free drink to anyone who is happy to take part in a free privacy check-up.
There will be 5 cafes across the UK in London, Cardiff, Manchester, Edinburgh and Brighton. You can find out the exact locations in this article.
Improve Ad Relevance
This is a useful chart from Facebook to help you improve your ads:
We suggest your ad runs for at least 48 hours before you review these figures as we have found it takes a while for ads to settle down. If you can’t see the quality ranking, engagement ranking and conversion rate columns in Ads Manager, use Customise Columns to add them.
Have you spotted any new Facebook changes? Do let us know in the comments below.