Facebook Pushes Into Google Now Territory With Updated Mobile Notifications
Facebook is giving people the option to get reminders about events, milestones and other activities within its mobile app notifications.
Facebook is revamping mobile notifications to give people the option to add personal-assistant-style reminders.
The new features will offer people contextual reminders based on their connections and other activity on the social network, displayed on cards within the notifications tab.
It’s very similar to the predictive suggestions offered by Google Now and Microsoft’s Cortana, except the content displayed will be based on people’s activity on the social network, and it will live within the app on which people spend so much time.
People will have the option to see friends’ birthdays and other life events, sports scores and TV reminders (based on Pages they’ve liked) and reminders about upcoming events they have RSVPed to. Facebook product manager Keith Peiris told Mashable that there are 15 different cards available, but that most people will only see from five to seven at a given time. People will be able to adjust the cards they want to see.
Location-based reminders can be activated if users have Location History enabled in their Facebook app. Among the items that could be served:
- Things happening around your community, like local events and news that is popular in the city you live in
- Weather updates, like current conditions and severe weather alerts
- Movies playing in theaters near you
- A list of nearby places to eat, with links to the places’ Facebook Pages and reviews
Facebook said the new notifications tab will roll out gradually in the coming weeks on the Android and iPhone apps in the US.
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