Facebook launched on Thursday a new feature called Friendship Pages, which documents all the Facebook interactions between two people all in one place.
An all-night hackathon project led by software engineer Wayne Kao, Friendship Pages aggregate public Wall posts and comments between two friends, photos in which they’re both tagged, events they both RSVP’d to and more. If two people have a friendship page, a third person can only view the page if he or she is at least friends with one of the two and has permission to view both individual profiles.
“For those of us who have worked on it, the best part is the human side of these pages. They can bring back memories, conversations and times spent together,” writes Kao. “Browsing just a few friendship pages, I was reminded of a long Saturday when a friend and I made a pie together, a memorable trip to Disneyland where I got dizzy riding a teacup, and the elaborate birthday party my friend threw for his dog--streamers, candles and all.”
Of course, initial user reaction to the new feature probably won’t sound quite so warm and fuzzy. Facebook users tend to react vehemently against any changes made to the social network, and when the changes involve the reshuffling or displaying of user data, things can get ugly.
The best example would have to be the News Feed, which first launched in late 2006. All the feed did was find already visible friend activity--like wall posts and status updates--and aggregate all that content into a single home page news feed. Though the feature didn’t share anything that wasn’t already publicly available on the site, users complained that the feed made “Facebook stalking” a little bit too easy.
But we’re nearing the end of 2010 now and very few people, if anyone, complains about the News Feed anymore. In fact, it’s likely a lot of people’s favorite part of the site.
Friendshp Pages will probably venture down the same risky path. At first, users will rebel and speak out against the feature, but as more and more actually grow accustomed to it and actually discover its advantages (touted by Kao above), most will come to embrace it.
No word from Facebook on how to access the feature.
