Facebook doesn’t like to be left behind when it comes to figuring out what the next best thing in the tech world is all about. The company’s latest feature really feels like something we’ve seen before, and that’s because it is something we’ve seen before. Today the company introduced a feature called, “On This Day,” and it accomplishes exactly what Timehop does, except it’s exclusive to Facebook.
The goal of the feature is really quite simple. It wants to uncover old posts, and it wants to highlight either the great things, or the terrible things – depending on your position about a trip down memory lane. Users will be able to set up a notification system, either in their browser, iOS or Android device and in doing so will enable reminders of what you posted a year, two, or however many years before.
Facebook adding this feature is seen globally as a response to the success that Timehop has enjoyed to this point. Mainly, they have recently seen Timehop reach 6 million users, and now feel as though it’s their time to cash in on a similar feature. Interestingly though, Facebook has been trying for years to create a working feature like this – but nothing has materialized the way the company would have liked.
The folks at Timehop don’t seem overly concerned about Facebook’s move into the space, either. Timehop CEO Jonathan Wegener had some interesting remarks regarding the future of his company, and where he believes Facebook stands in the space. He said, “My general feeling is that this is awesome validation that we’re doing something worth doing. One of our investors put it really nicely that if Facebook isn’t playing in your space, you’re probably not doing something worth doing.”
His logic is certainly difficult to argue with, but Facebook isn’t conceding anything about the company actually creating this feature in response to what Timehop does. In fact, when they were asked directly about it – they avoided answering the question entirely. At this point it’s really just about what Timehop offers, versus what Facebook is now just offering.
Facebook’s “On This Day” feature really only accommodates one social network – while Timehop accommodates every social network that exists practically, and even incorporates a lot of services like Dropbox and your camera roll. It’s the point that this is the validation that Timehop was looking for, and while Facebook works to integrate this new feature – it won’t compete with much outside the direct space. The company did note though that the feature would be rolling out globally over the course of the next several days and weeks. Not everyone would be receiving the feature at the same time, and at the end of the day – it would really depend on the particular user – when it came to actually getting the feature.