Facebook to Add New "Saw that you saw" Chat Feature
When Facebook introduced the Seen feature in 2012, people felt like their privacy had been violated. Their short conversations became awkward; they wanted it removed. But after a few months of adjusting to the new feature, users got used to it and embraced it. Now its been imitated by other messaging apps like Snapchat and Kik.
At a recent press conference, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg pitched an extension to that feature to notify users that the person they're messaging saw that they saw their message.
For example, if you message someone "Hi" and they see it, under it, on your end, will read: Seen,as usual. And on the other end, it will read: Saw that you saw. It's similar to messaging the person that you saw that they saw your message, except Facebook does it for you.
"It's a motive to continue the conversation," says Zuckerberg. "It makes things less awkward on both ends." As with any change, Zuckerberg expects immediate disapproval, but people will "just end up getting used to it."
The Saw that you saw feature will be released to users at random throughout the month, and data will be collected on whether or not this feature promotes longer conversations. If data shows any positive correlation whatsoever, it'll be released to all users by December 1st.
