Facebook Facial Recognition: Facebook Back On Board with Photo Tag Suggestions

Facebook Facial Recognition: Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is not the type of company that makes a big deal out of every move the company makes. For this reason, minor changes and updates can often times slip through the cracks. This is especially true for those who are not paying attention.

Yesterday, the social media giant announced that it re-enabled the photo tag suggestion feature in the United States. As you may remember, this feature was disabled last year as Facebook was hoping to make some improvements.

There was not much fanfare. Instead, the update was made on the company’s privacy page.

Here is what it said:

“As we announced last year, we temporarily suspended our photo tag suggestion feature to make some technical improvements. Today, we’re re-enabling the feature in the United States so that people can use facial recognition to help them easily identify a friend in a photo and share that content with them. This is the same feature that millions of people previously used to help them quickly share billions of photos with friends and family.”

At the time of publication, the post only has 180 “likes.” This just goes to show you how under the radar the announcement really was.

First made available to US users in 2010, the Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) photo tag suggestion was not exactly popular at the time. Both US, and later European users, were concerned about privacy.

According to TechCrunch, it looks like they are going to try things out again.

“The feature has returned with no changes, and is set to “on” by default. So it would appear that Facebook is testing the waters for our acceptance of the whole idea. Making photo tagging easier is crucial for increasing Facebook’s engagement metrics and return visits. The move could also signal that facial recognition is ready for mobile.”

It is important to note that users are not forced into using this feature. It can be easily turned off by editing the option “Who sees tag suggestions when photos that look like you are uploaded?” under account settings.

Is Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) going to take a beating for this feature like the first time? Or have people come around to this idea over the past couple years?

Check back here for more updates on Facebook Facial Recognition.

DISCLOSURE: I have no positions in any stock mentioned.

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