This is just a short follow-up on a blog from last month about the lastest Facebook hackathon. We pondered what new ideas might be put into practice during the event and whether or not any of them would ever see the light of day. It turns out that Facebook’s latest feature announced this week was born from one such hackathon.
Facebook Organ Donors came from a hackathon? No, the other new feature this week… Action Links?? No no, the other new feature… Wow, what with the IPO getting a firm date and share prices announced, it’s been somewhat of a busy week for Zuckerberg & co.
The new feature we’re talking about here is a new photo-filter for Facebook‘s non-smartphone app, Facebook for Every Phone. In truth, it’s quite basic and very similar to Instagram, but obviously if you’re a user of Facebook for Every Phone then you probably won’t be able to use Instagram.
Users of Facebook for Every Phone can now apply a Sepia or Grayscale filter to their photos. So maybe this is Facebook’s way of allowing those who aren’t smartphone users to keep up with the Joneses when it comes to posting visual content to their timelines while on the move. Or, it could be a subtle way of getting people hooked on the idea of Instagram, which they will then start to use if/when they get a smartphone.
And who just bought Instagram? Oh yeah, that’s right… It was Facebook.