Those of you who’ve been on Facebook for more than, say, four years – why do you still use it? In fact, do you even still use it at all? Or do you just log on and scroll through simply out of a deep-seated habit?
For many the only reason Facebook still sees and action is out of nostalgia. For all its flaws, Facebook is a phenomenally good time capsule, and it’s this that niche functionality that ensures we’ll probably be using it forever. Once you’re into the ecosystem it’s hard to break out.
Don’t think Facebook hasn’t realised that, though. It’s currently rolling out a new feature in an attempt to dig its nostalgic hooks even deeper into you.
‘On This Day’ pretty much does what it says on the tin. Simply enter facebook.com/onthisday into your your browser and you’ll be whisked away to a tagged photo, uploaded photo or status on this same date but from years gone by. If you’re on mobile, these posts will start permeating your timeline.
Don’t worry about the potential (inevitable) embarrassment – you’ll be the only one who can see these posts, although you’ll be able to share them onto your public timeline with one click.
It’s probably no coincidence that this feature has come along at a time when similarly nostalgia-centric app Timehop is dominating the app store. If anything it’s incredible that Facebook hasn’t implemented something like On This Day sooner.
It’s not available for everyone right now, but will be soon enough. If you’re interested in it, be sure to keep checking back to that On This Day URL over the next few days, and be sure to update your Facebook mobile app.
