Facebook F8 Conference – Top Takeaways from 2019

Facebook’s 10th annual developer conference was held April 30-May 1 in San Jose, CA. F8 2019 was billed as a “two-day event where developers, creators, entrepreneurs, and innovators from around the world gather to network and explore the future of technology with Facebook and its family of apps.”

Location3 CEO Alex Porter and Director of Paid Media Brooke Hess sat down to discuss the most relevant news coming out of the conference including:

Facebook as an extension of the living room: Facebook is looking to increase user-to-user interactions on the platform – a primary factor in boosting it from a regionally based tool for college students into the all-encompassing media behemoth it is today.

This includes a Groups feature, which prioritizes communication within Facebook Groups, where users are increasingly turning for engagement instead of their News Feed.

Another way Facebook is pushing for more personal interactions is a desktop version of Messenger that allows users to simultaneously watch streaming video.

Facebook is also dipping their toes into the online dating waters, offering a dating app that functions similarly to popular apps like Tinder and Bumble. Facebook Dating includes a “Secret Crush” feature, which allows users to identify nine Facebook friends whom they are attracted to. If both people list each other as crushes, both people are notified. What could go wrong?

Instagram is improving its advertising offering: Instagram continues to expand and improve its advertising features. One of the biggest developments is shoppable posts, which provide users with a direct path to a product displayed on a post or story. This feature is not only available to brands and advertisers, it’s now available to influencers, who can expand the reach of brands and products to their followers.

Instagram is testing hiding “likes”:  In an attempt to increase the quality of content as well as decrease damaging online competition, Instagram is currently testing making “likes” only available to the user who posts.