(Facebook headquarters in 2014)
On January 14, 2014, Facebook bought Branch Media, a specialist in content management and content sharing, for $15 million. On February 24, 2014, a Facebook spokesperson announced to AFP the removal of his e-mail system: @facebook.com. In March 2014, Facebook bought Oculus VR, creator of the virtual reality helmet Oculus Rift. In June 2014, Facebook launches Slingshot (photo sharing application) to compete with Snapchat, but without success. In October 2014, Facebook launches Rooms, an application (exclusively mobile) that allows to create discussion rooms (forums). On June 15, Facebook announced the launch of the Moments application, which aims to share photos privately.
In September 2015, Facebook announced that it will test the implementation of an empathy button, counterbalancing the “Like” button, which can be difficult to use for statuses marking difficult times for example. Facebook is preparing, in the same year, a corporate social network, Facebook at work, which will allow users to talk to colleagues, connect with other professionals or share documents. The economic model chosen is freemium: access will be free but some functions will pay off. On October 26, 2015, Facebook announced the launch of a new feature in response to user requests. They can, if they wish, receive on their mobile notifications informing them of events related to the news of their city, sports results or even weather news.
On November 19, 2015, Facebook is starting to test a series of tools that allow users who have experienced a breakdown to limit relationships with their former partners. The user may for example choose to limit the appearance on his newswire of publications of his ex. In December 2015, Facebook allows its users to insert a 7-second mini-video as a profile picture. This short video will automatically animate itself when another member of Facebook visits the user’s homepage.
In January 2016, Facebook launches five new feedback buttons. Adding to the “Like” classic, users of the social network can then express other emotions via emojis: “Love”, “Haha”, “Wow”, “Sad”, “Angry” . Facebook says it wants to give “more ways to quickly share its reaction to a publication.” In May 2016, Facebook and Google jointly announce their plans to create a high-speed transatlantic submarine cable to accelerate the speed of access to their services and the cloud. The project, named MAREA, should link the cities of Virginia Beach to the United States and Bilbao in Spain.
In October 2016, Facebook launched the corporate social network Workplace. So far called Facebook at work, this declination of the social network is aimed at companies and claims to compete with intranets and mailboxes by accelerating communication between employees.
Image https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Inside_the_Facebook_campus.jpg
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