Facebook just opened 'On This Day' to everyone — after leading us on about it for two years
Facebook has kept its promise. The world's largest social network has granted all 2 billion of its monthly active users access to "On This Day." Oh, and the multi-billion-dollar company also launched a new memories feature.
Finally.
The global launch only took 29 months, a time where my two best friends couldn't see our Facebook friendiversaries or any of their personal memories every day while I enjoyed the daily jaunt down memory lane.
But what was more frustrating is Facebook's complete refusal to acknowledge that not every user had access. I converse with people who work at Facebook literally every day, and none of them over the last two years could explain to me why it was available to me but not to my friends or others.
So, I wrote about it back in May 2015. Facebook did not respond to a request for comment.
On the second anniversary of the feature, I revisited the topic. Facebook did not respond to a request for comment.
Every time I asked in person, Facebook employees were cagey, saying they would try to find the right person.
Okay. I get it. This feature isn't the most important thing in the world. We have fake news to worry about. But the point is Facebook isn't my friend, and they shouldn't be your friend as much as they want to be, which is quite contradictory to the whole mission of this launch.
With this announcement, Facebook revealed they will be bundling more memories for you. For example, they'll show a monthly or a seasonal recap of your photos. They also may show celebratory messages to you like when you "make a notable number of friends" or "when your friends have liked your posts."
Yeah, no thanks.
And there's this: "On This Day is one of Facebook's most popular experiences and we're excited that this feature is now available to everyone on Facebook," Facebook product manager Oren Hod wrote in a blog post.
Great. I could have gone without getting dozens of private messages over the last two years from users asking why they didn't have access to "On This Day." If it was so damn popular, why did you wait 29 months?
Naturally, Facebook did not respond to my request for comment on why it took so long.
Topics Facebook Social Media
Kerry Flynn is a business reporter for Mashable covering the tech industry. She previously reported on social media companies, mobile apps and startups for International Business Times. She has also written for The Huffington Post, Forbes and Money magazine. Kerry studied environmental science and economics at Harvard College, where she led The Harvard Crimson's metro news and design teams and played mellophone in the Band. When not listening to startup pitches, she runs half-marathons, plays with puppies and pretends to like craft beer.
