Facebook has certainly come a long way from back in the day where it was viewed as just another social network platform, the successor to older social networks like Friendster or MySpace. These days Facebook does a lot more, and even has other companies under its umbrella such as WhatsApp and Instagram.Now it seems that the company could be trying to link all of its products and services together with crossover notifications. This feature was initially discovered by social media analyst Mari Smith where as you can see in the screenshot above, the Facebook app can now show users notifications that they might have gotten from other Facebook-owned apps/services, such as Messenger and Instagram.
Facebook has since confirmed to TechCrunch that this is a feature that they are testing. “We are conducting a very small test to make it easier for people to discover and connect with the people and things they care about. We’re exploring ways to help people switch more easily between their Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram accounts.”
How it works is that users press on their profile icon in the Facebook app and the switcher will appear like in the screenshot, where it will show users a red dot and a number that indicates the number of notifications that are waiting for them in the other app. Tapping on them will see users switch to that particular app. It is unclear if this is a feature that will be sticking around or if Facebook could decide to ditch it, but what do you guys think? Is this a feature you wouldn’t mind having?
Image credit – Mari Smith
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