Overview
Facebook has been
involved in numerous acquisitions since its launch. On June 18, 2012 Facebook
announced one of its most recent acquisitions with Face.com. It is
unclear how much Facebook acquired the company for but it is said to be
anywhere from 55 to 100 Million (Sutter).
Face.com is an Israeli
company that was launched in 2007. The Israeli company was best known for
helping third parties integrate facial recognition to social networking sites
(Owens). The facial recognition technology provided by face.com allows many
social network sites that individuals use daily to automatically detect faces
on the pictures that are uploaded by its users (Bloomberg).
Facebook
website has been integrated with the company’s services and applications
(Sutter). Features which many of us have seen or used on Facebook like
PhotoFinder and PhotoTagger have been implemented in the website for two years.
These applications operate by automatically detecting people's age and facial
features when a photo is upload. The PhotoFinder application assists users in
locating photos of themselves and friends. The PhotoTagger is an application that automatically mass tags photos uploaded by users (Newman).
Expected Outcomes
Since its launch
Face.com has targeted the creation of face detecting applications, especially
for mobile devices (Owen). What many speculate including myself is this acquisition has
a lot to do with Facebook wanting to lead in mobile photo capturing and
uploading. For Facebook these face detection applications have not worked so
well on mobile devices and tablets (Sutter). Many photos that users upload
through their phones end up going untagged and this has a direct effect on
Facebook as it minimizes the amount of news feed users get.
Facebook's recent 1billion dollar acquisition with Instagram also
indicted that Facebook is looking to place a major emphasis on photo sharing
through mobile devices (Owens).
Therefore, what users of
Facebook will more than likely see in the future is the creation of new tools
that will make it easier to tag friends in photos through mobile devices
(Newman). This acquisition will most definitely assist the Facebook
management team improve and enhance functionality and accuracy of the services
on mobile devices and tablets.
Works Cited
Levy, Ary.
"Facebook Buys Face.com, Adds Facial-Recognition Software." Bloomberg.
N.p., 18 June 2012. Web. <http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-18/facebook-buys-face-com-adds-facial-recognition-software.html>.
Newman, Jared.
"Facebook Buys Face.com; Prepare for Easier Photo Tagging." PCWorld.
N.p.,18 June 2012. Web <http://www.pcworld.com/article/257832/facebook_buys_facecom_prepare_for_easier_photo_tagging.html>.
Owens, Jeremy C.
"Facebook Acquires Face.com, Stock Continues to Rise."MercuryNews.com,
19 June 2012. Web. <http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_20883128/facebook-acquires-face-com-stock-continues-rise>.
Sutter, John D.
"Why Faces Matter to Facebook - CNN.com." CNN Tech. Cable
News Network, 20 June 2012. Web. <http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/19/tech/innovation/face-recognition-facebook/index.html>
Hmmm...sometimes I think that Facebook already has too much power. I'm not sure I want my face recognized in pictures without my knowledge or permission. What if the picture is particularly embarrassing? I really wouldn't want a bunch of people that I don't even know to view it. I see some major privacy issues with the new implementation of the aquisition. What is Facebook going to do with my facial info? Will it be sold to other companies? I'm sure the government will have a big interest in this. How will Facebook keep its info from falling into the wrong hands? I just think this new facial recognition is too invasive and it's a little scary. Hopefully there will be ways around the facial recognition software through some of Facebook's settings. I sure hope so. Interesting article!
ReplyDeleteEhric, I completely agree! When I came across the article I was a bit shocked. I am not too sure what Facebook plans to do with the facial information and in what ways they might use it. It will be interesting to see exactly what they plan on doing by acquiring Face.com and what type of applications may come from this. Like you said, it is a little scary and invasive as well. I am sure there will be ways around the software since they currently run something pretty similar. As a Facebook user I am already allowed to mess with my privacy settings and disable the function of automatically getting tagged in photos uploaded of me. I have my facebook set to where photos need to be approved by me before they get published, so hopefully privacy features will still available to its users.
ReplyDeleteFacebook is already one of the biggest media that most people are communicating. Just like we have known of, facebook has been connecting people, update status, information, help people come together. Eventhough there are some weak points in facebook in most of devices, it has been amazing technological creation. In my opinion, phone or tablet should be improved to be able to get those pictures from facebook because the pixels are so big, sometimes phone cannot even download it right.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting article, I completely agree with Ehric, I don't think it should be so easy for a picture of yourself to be so easily recognized. I personally wouldn't like this setting at all, what if a picture was uploaded that you didn't expect and you were recognized because of this feature. I personally, don't like this idea at all.
ReplyDeleteReading articles like this makes me happy that I deleted my Facebook a few months ago. They have to be the most intrusive and invasive site on the internet that is regularly frequented. I got tired of constantly having to update and change my privacy settings, and I hated the mandated changes that Facebook made users go through. When it was created, Facebook was supposed to just be a free social networking and collaboration website for college students, and now it's used by pre-teens all the way to senior citizens. People get excited about a lot of the features Facebook introduces like tagging friends at the beach or ball game, which just alerts everyone you're friends with that you're not home. Like Ehric said, there are some pictures that I simply don't want people to have and/or see, and with facial recognition software you don't have much of a choice unless you again go alter your privacy settings. It's scary all the information Facebook has on its users, and even scarier what to think someone (hackers) could do with all that information.
ReplyDeleteI've read about Facebook chasing this kind of technology for a while. I thought they were also trying to, not just detect your face, but also background cues to determine where you might be or what your doing (McDonald's signs, distinguishable landscapes or activities, etc.).
ReplyDeleteThis same facial recognition has already been installed in bars around the U.S., including some in Houston. The sales pitch is that you can get an app for your phone and know the general demographic at a bar before you show up (Age, Gender, etc.). They do promise, however, that they don't keep records of any personally distinguishing characteristics and that such data is not accessible to users.
I still think the major online privacy threat is Google. They dwarf Facebook, in my opinion, on data collection and privacy invasion. I run anti-tracking software on my browser that blocks and shows me who is trying to track me on every site. Google and their subs are literally everywhere online; Facebook comes in a lagging second place. Google allegedly sells the collected information to all sorts of third parties -- and if they don't they could. It's convenient for an insurance agency to sell you a policy after they know what preexisting conditions you may have, based on your internet searches. Banks, marketing firms, employers; the industry is lucrative if you can compile the data and package it to sell.