Your Facebook Friends Really Do Care What You Think! (We Think.)

Your friends actually do care what you think -- or at least Facebook assumes they do.

You may have noticed a relatively new feature on Facebook lately that allows users to ask friends for recommendations or share their own thoughts on topics like movies, TV shows and books with those who ask. You may have missed it when it first rolled out a few months ago; it was a quiet rollout that didn't get the usual attention that a new Facebook feature often generates.

[seealso slug="news-feed-changes"]

When a user visits a friend's profile and that friend has specified certain "favorites" along the lefthand side of said profile, a new button lets users "ask" that friend for a recommendation. Facebook first started testing the feature in late 2013.

When a user clicks on the "ask" button, a popup appears where that user can request a recommendation for topics like books, TV shows, movies and music. It also allows them to ask other friends for recommendations, too, and the user can add a short message.

A new Ask button appears below a friends favorites on their profile. Credit: Facebook

Clicking the Ask button leads to a pop-up screen where users can add a message and select who they want a recommendation from. Credit: Facebook

Once the request is submitted, the friend receives a notification alerting them that someone is asking for a recommendation. The friend can then select from a list of choices surfaced by Facebook or search for a book or movie that does not appear on the list. The user can also choose to ignore the request.

Once a recommendation request has been made, users can choose from a pre-selected list of recommendations, or search for others. Credit: Facebook

If someone asks you for a recommendation, you will receive a notification where you can act on the request, or ignore it. Credit: Facebook

This type of feature encourages Facebook users to engage more regularly with one another, and also prompts users to add favorite musicians, books and movies to their profile. Facebook isn't sharing any data on how often friends are using the feature (or if more favorites have been added), according to a spokesperson.

Facebook often talks about creating a personalized experience for each user, and in order to do so, needs to know information about that user to surface the most relevant content. A feature like this allows Facebook to better understand a user's likes and dislikes.

The recommend feature is also available on mobile. Users can click on the "about" section of a friend's profile, and will find the "ask" button when they click on a specific category -- books, music, etc. -- that the friend has populated with her favorites.

The new recommendation feature is also available on mobile devices. Credit: Kurt Wagner/Mashable