Facebook Responds to Google+ Features, Unveils Smart Lists

  • Facebook has unveiled improvements to its “friends” lists with a new feature dubbed “Smart Lists” that automatically generates friend groups so that users no longer need to manage their own lists.
  • The improvement — which follows the lead of popular Google+ features — is currently based on categories that create lists based on workplace, school, family and city. “For example, if a user lists their college on their profile, Smart Lists will automatically find all their friends that did the same, and group them together for easier sharing of content between them,” reports CNET.
  • While the social networker has previously made list creation available, the company explains that users complained about “how time-consuming it is to organize lists for different parts of your life and keep them up to date.” These improvements should address this concern. Facebook also points out that users can still manually add or remove friends from their lists.
  • Additionally, a new “Close Friends and Acquaintances Lists” component has been added. The option allows users to categorize friends into either their “Close Friends” list or mere “Acquaintances.” The distinction will help funnel updates through the news feeds; users will see all updates from close friends and just important updates from acquaintances.

2 Comments

  1. A great example of why competition is a great thing. Facebook did little to innovate in this area forever. Then Google+ comes along with Circles, which people like, and voila, Facebook starts innovating. This is a great addition, but like Circles, the easy management of friends is going to take more work.

  2. A great example of why competition is a great thing. Facebook did little to innovate in this area forever. Then Google+ comes along with Circles, which people like, and voila, Facebook starts innovating. This is a great addition, but like Circles, the easy management of friends is going to take more work.

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