Credit: https://www.androidpolice.com/2018/11/27/facebook-may-soon-let-users-block-comments-containing-chosen-words-and-phrases-from-their-timelines/
In fairness to Facebook, the social networking behemoth has been doing its best to reduce harassment on its platform. Whether its efforts have been largely successful is however, dependent on the opinion of every critique out there. That said, no one can deny the fact that the social media giant has not been putting in a lot of efforts to deal with the issue. In a renewed effort to deal with online harassment, Facebook is reportedly working on another feature to curb the menace. Per Android Police, you may soon be able to clock certain comments that include specified words, phrases, or emoji from showing up on your timeline.
Citing Jane Wong, Android Police writes that the feature, which is still being developed would let you choose words, strings of words, and emoji that you don’t want to see appear in comments in your timelines. While those who posted such comments and words will be able to see them on their timeline, you and every other user that has blocked them won’t see them. Blocking such comments from appearing only on your timeline is a smart move as it won’t give room for people responsible for posting them to find a way around them.
Facebook is working on letting users to ban words/phrases/emojis from showing up on their personal timelines
Tip @Techmeme pic.twitter.com/9WpfDXEEu7
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) November 27, 2018
More still needs to be done to deal with trolls, but blocking comments from appearing on a user’s timeline is a smart move. The feature, according to Wong, is still in its developmental stage, and a few more changes and testing will be required before it is finally launched.
In other news, Facebook has finally opened its co-viewing feature Watch Party to every user—including profiles and Pages. The feature, which allows people to watch videos online in groups, was first launched late in July, and will now be available to profiles and businesses all over the world. Going forward, anyone can post a Watch party invite to hook up with other viewers. This will allow everyone to simultaneously watch videos they have discovered on the platform [Facebook].
Facebook has big plans to make Watch Party a place where people can also contribute by way of commenting on videos. Watch Party hosts will be able to go Live picture-in-picture so they can post comments in real-time. This could attract celebrities as it will create a studio-like atmosphere—with users feeling like they are sitting side-by-side watching TV together. To kick-start this new trick, Basketball superstar Shaq is billed to trial Live Commenting through his Page today.
Watch Party seems like a nice move from Facebook considering the fact that rival companies like Spotify and Netflix are yet to add such feature to their offering to users. It, however, remains to be seen if people would want to come together on Facebook to watch videos.
