Facebook are Testing Out Profile Links to Other Social Media Accounts

SBT Virtual

It's no secret that, in an ideal world, Facebook would rather be the only social media platform in the game, but that's not a realistic goal. Normally, they just outright ignore their rivals, if they aren't trying to squash/overtake/imitate them. What they don't generally do is actively promote their competitors, but lo and behold, they've started testing a feature that does exactly that.

Some users have started noticing a new section in between the 'About Me' and 'Featured Photos' sections - a set of buttons linking out to their profiles on networks like Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube and even Snapchat. There's never been anything barring users from including hyperlinks to profiles, but these buttons are clearly purpose built to do this.

So far, users have only noticed the feature on the iOS and Android app versions of the platform, no reports of any desktop appearances as yet. As is often the case, there's no guarantee that the feature will ever be properly introduced, but if it is, I can imagine it splitting users down the middle.

Facebook on iOS is now letting you display shortcuts to your Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat accounts pic.twitter.com/Bk6VaJR9LG

— Matt Navarra ⭐️ (@MattNavarra) February 17, 2017

On the one hand, it's a classy move on Facebook's part to create some synergy between their platform and the other major players, but on the other hand it might be regarded as another way of putting user privacy at risk. Presumably it will be completely optional, but Facebook add in new features with little to no fanfare, under the radar, their default position is usually 'on', and users are left to figure out where the 'off' switch is all by themselves.

This is why so many publications are putting out information about how to turn the sound off on autoplay videos, Facebook never really bothered to make that crucial information easily accessible when they launched this hellishly irritating 'upgrade'.

Moving away from that, the question remains - why are Facebook so happy to let users link out to other social media profiles? Well, in his recent 5,000 word letter to the community, Mark Zuckerberg talked about 'social infrastructure', which as a phrase suggests that he's becoming more interested in a wider online community where each platform plays a specific key role, rather than just Facebook.