You might have heard about the F8 Facebook Event that happened several days ago. You might know what that is all about. Or you might be like the majority who has no inkling what an F8 Facebook event is.
The F8 Facebook Event is actually an annual conference for business people and developers who have products and services that use the #1 social media site as their platform. This event was held in San Francisco.
History of F8 Facebook Event
The F8 Facebook Event started in May24, 2007. The first conference was held in San Francisco’s Design Center where the social graph was introduced.
On July 23, 2008, at the same venue, Facebook introduced its profile and other key features of the social platform. They also educated the participants about integrating FacebookConnect to your various websites.
There was no F8 Facebook Event the following year. On April 21, 2010, main topics of the event was about adding a Facebook Like button on any pages of your website. Other announcements in this gathering include- Open Graph Protocol, Social Plugins, OAuth 2.0 and Graph API.
The September 20, 2011, event focused more on the other features and attributes of Facebook which include the introduction of the Facebook Timeline, Social Gaming, Facebook Marketing, Social, the creation of new tools for developers, among others.
There was no event for two years. In 2014, the F8 Facebook Event focused solely on cross platforms, which means that you can use Facebook with your other social media platforms for marketing.
In March 25, 2015 at Fort Mason, San Francisco, Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg officially unveiled the FB Messenger Platform. He also informed those who were in attendance that they are brewing something that will soon allow Facebook to connect directly to businesses. Plans also include support for 360 degrees videos, new mobile analytics tool and embeddable videos.
What the 2016 F8 Facebook Event Promised
On their website, Facebook promised ahead of time that participants to this year’s developers’ conference will learn about the latest innovations as well as know the best practices when it comes to creating apps. This year’s event promised to focus on discovering new innovative ways to make this the platform to stay open and connected with the rest of the world.
There were more than 40 sessions scheduled for the 2-day conference which revolves in a variety of topics that include but not limited to: Introducing Bots to FB Messenger, Growing your business with Pages, the future of videos and how to make Android apps work faster. At $595 registration fee, it was more than just what developers dream to discover.
Recap of the 2016 F8 Facebook Event
So, did Facebook deliver what it promised? It definitely did!
Facebook unveiled ambitious plans to make this platform bigger and better during their April 12-13, 2016 F8 Facebook Developer Conference in Fort Mason, San Francisco. CEO Mark Zuckerberg talked about their 10-year road map that includes virtual reality glasses, lasers, and bots.
Their 10-year roadmap focuses on three things- to make Facebook more functional in the next 3 years, making WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram better in the next 5 years and deloping VR, AI and world connectivity in 10 years.
The conference emphasized the importance of bots. It also announced its Messenger Platform API intended for businesses. The development and creation of virtual reality headsets the size of normal reading glasses were also discussed.
Reinforcing their “connect the world” efforts include the release of their Free Basics program simulator. They also showed their drone airplane which will help in bringing the internet to places with under-developed connectivity.
Other Keypoints of the F8 Facebook Event
#1 Facebook Messenger App– focuses on “facilitating messages from businesses”. This means that you can do practically everything without leaving your Messenger apps. You can order flowers (Zuckerberg’s favorite example), to ordering cabs from Lyft and Uber to doing your airline and hotel reservations.
#2 AI or Artificial Intelligence– the event also discussed how the Facebook Team has developed an AI backbone that is being used by one-fourth of the company’s engineering team. They discussed how the team had made a dramatic increase in their AI tests. Translations have gotten better because of these tests. Other beneficiaries of their improved AI services include- photo image searches, talking pictures and classifying video images per subject.
#3 Facebook Live Video will eventually allow you to combine videos and audios coming from different sources and add various audio and video effects. It also allows for better accessing and monitoring of comments and video streaming & sharing.
#4 Oculus Touch Controllers handsets will be launched in the later part of the year which will then allow its users to interact with others and touch objects virtually.
#5 Facebook 360 is a product of a 17 camera prototype system that films high-resolution, high-quality spherical videos. Facebook 360 will allow people to create their own 360 cameras instead of getting into the camera business itself.
#6 Developer tools have a new feature that will allow for easy logins with just your mobile number or email address.
#7 Save button will now allow users to save videos, links and stories to their Facebook Saved Folder.
Wrapping it up
Facebook has gone a long way since its conception several years ago, and it cannot be denied that they have really invested a lot of their time, money and effort to make it the platform of choice for many. With just a click of a button, a user can do so many things at the same time with their Facebook account. Gone were the days when it was just used to connect socially with other people from all parts of the globe. Now, Facebook can be used even for businesses and for other things. Facebook has become so important that it has become integrated in every tech-savvy’s way of life.
This year’s F8 Facebook Event was what every developer who attended it wants- it talked about adapting and integrating technologies and social media platforms to make Facebook better and more interactive. It was a testament that by staying competitive technologically, Facebook has once again stayed on top of the game.
