Facebook rolled out a new iOS app on Thursday for celebrities and public figures, making it easier for them to interact with fans.
The app, Facebook Mentions, lets users see what fans are saying in a dedicated mentions feed and start mobile Q&As.
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The top of their notifications pages will be populated with shout-outs from other celebrities and media; users will also be able to see which topics are trending so they can chime in.
Here's an epic example of how Whoopi Goldberg responded to a Facebook user's post that showed up on her radar (and probably wouldn't have otherwise) via the Mentions app. She later jumped into the conversation.
Facebook is trying to make the app as elite as the people who will use it. The app is only available for public figures with verified Pages, so verified users without a dedicated page won't be able to access the app. For now, brands and media aren't able to use Facebook Mentions, but the company told Mashable this will be rolled out to users with verified profiles in the future, as well as bringing the app to other countries.
Facebook also released some numbers around its public figures accounts, stating nearly 800 million people are connected to those with verified pages. There are also more than a billion interactions between public figures and their fans on Facebook every week.
Several major celebrities and public figures have already been quietly using the app, including Mariah Carey, Whoopi Goldberg, Josh Duhamel, Ed Sheeran, Austin Mahone, Tyrese Gibson, Rachel Zoe, Arianna Huffington, Bill Nye and Nick Kristof.
Facebook says those public figures now produce twice as much content each day as they did before using the Mentions app.