We're constantly working on making Facebook better, and one area where we've been spending a lot of time is on photos.
Coming to Facebook two months ago from Divvyshot (a tiny little photo startup) I was amazed at how much people are using Facebook Photos. Ninety-nine percent of people using Facebook have uploaded at least one photo. More than 100 million photos are uploaded every day. That's insane.
Despite this, we know Facebook Photos can improve. You've told us so, and we hear you.
Starting with the Basics
This might surprise you, but within the photos product most people spend their time uploading, browsing and tagging photos. As a result, we're working to improve your experience in each of those areas. For tagging, we began testing today a faster and easier way for you to tag your own photos.
People love tagging their friends and family in photos, but we've heard that it can be a tedious process. You now can add tags with just a couple of clicks directly from your home page and other sections of the site, using the same face detection technology that cameras have used for years. We're running a limited test of this technology so you may not see it yet. If you do, you'll see the following box while browsing Facebook:
With this new feature, tagging is faster since you don't need to select a face. It's already selected for you, just like those rectangles you see around your friends' faces when you take a photo with a modern digital camera. All that's left for you to do is type a name and hit enter. Cool, huh?
More to Come
The tagging feature is just the start of improvements we're trying out. Stay tuned for future posts about other work on browsing, uploading and tagging.
We'd like to hear from you, too, if you have other ideas about how to improve Facebook Photos. Send us your suggestions at www.facebook.com/photosfeedback. I promise I'll read them!
Sam, Facebook's new product manager for Photos, wishes he owned a Canon 5D.
