LIVE: Facebook is launching a dating app, Mark Zuckerberg announces during the company’s biggest event of the year (FB)
pulse.ng
Jul 22, 2018 11:27 PM
Join us live for coverage of Facebook F8, the social network's biggest event of the year. Mark Zuckerberg and other executives will present the latest Facebook updates. This year's event comes in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
Facebook's annual developer conference, F8, is underway.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg has already dropped a bunch of bombshells, introducing a new Facebook dating app, and vowing to "keep building," even as the company is under fire for its handling of user privacy.
Scroll down to follow the keynote live, and refresh this page or click here to get the latest details:
10.55 a.m. PT: Facebook wants your blood.
Facebook is rolling out new features around blood donation, Cox says, after seeing large uptake of its existing features. 8 million people are registered as a blood donor on the platform already.
Cox also discussed some new 'Crisis Response' features, allowing users in emergency situations like earthquakes to add commentary in addition to declaring that they're safe.
10.52 a.m. PT: More details on Facebook's new dating app.
Facebook exec Chris Cox shares more detail on Facebook’s new dating app.
Users will have to opt in, their profiles aren't visible to their friends, and won't post to the Newsfeed or elsewhere. It's focused around groups and events, and users start a conversation by selecting one of their match's photos. Messaging is separate to Messenger and WhatsApp.
10.49 a.m. PT: Facebook is adding 'live commenting.'
Facebook is adding a slightly left-field feature: 'Live commenting' on videos. This means people will be able to appear in a bubble alongside videos and narrate them in real time. Time will tell if it catches on.
10.45 a.m. PT: Facebook is opening up the Stories format to third-party developers.
Facebook will let third-party apps post to users’ stories in Instagram and Facebook, Cox announces. A user might post songs they’re listening to on Spotify to their Instagram story, and their friends will then be able to click through to the song. It’s currently in beta.
10.41: Facebook is introducing Reddit-style unvotes and downvotes.
Cox announces Facebook is adding upvotes and downvotes to comments, Reddit-style, which will affect how comments are displayed.
10.40 a.m. PT: Chief product officer Chris Cox is on-stage.
Zuckerberg’s keynote is over, and chief product officer Chris Cox is now on stage. He’s talking about Facebook’s vision, how he came to join the company, and changes they’ve been making recently.
'We will keep building!'
Mark Zuckerberg ends on an almost defiant note, declaring to the crowds: 'We will keep building!'
'We need to keep this idea alive, and that is what we are all here at F8 to do together. So yes this is an imp moment, we need to do more to keep people safe and we will But we also need to keep building and bringing the world closer together!'
Oculus Go is shipping today.
Facebook’s new standalone VR headset, Oculus Go, is shipping today. It starts at $199, compared to $399 for the existing Oculus headset, which requires a high-end PC to use.
And everyone at the F8 conference is going a free one, Zuck announces. Raucous applause ensues.
10.30 a.m. PT: Facebook is shaking up its messaging platforms.
A bevvy of announcements about Facebook’s messaging platforms: WhatsApp is getting video calls, and building tools for large businesses to use the service; And Messenger is getting a simplified redesign, and augmented reality camera tools.
10.26 a.m. PT: Mark Zuckerberg thanks outgoing WhatsApp cofounder Jan Koum.
Yesterday, on the eve of F8, WhatsApp cofounder Jan Koum announced we was leaving the company, four yeas after it was acquired by Facebook.
On stage, Zuckerberg thanks Koum for his service, calling him “a tireless advocate for privacy and encryption.” (The Washington Post reported that Koum is leaving amid tensions with Facebook execs over encryption.)
10.23 a.m. PT: Now, onto Instagram
After the bombshell about Facebook dating, it’s on to Instagram. The photo app is redesigning its Explore tab, Zuckerberg says, and it is launching video chat — a potential rival to Apple’s FaceTime
10:18 a.m.: Zuckerberg used his recent grilling in Congress as a humorous way to tout the new 'Watch Party' feature
"Let’s say your friend is testifying in Congress … you can laugh together, cry together. Some of my friends actually did this! Let’s not do that again any time soon."
10.22 a.m. PT: FACEBOOK IS BECOMING A DATING APP
Zuckerberg seems confident.
Mark Zuckerberg, dressed in a longsleeve blue t-shirt, is speaking passionately and confidently. He seems far more fluent and at ease than at his Congressional testimony last month, even as he discusses much of the same subject. There’s even a joke or two!
10:08 a.m.: Zuckerberg talks about integrity of elections.
"In 2016 we were slow to identify Russian interference," Zuckerberg says.
Zuckerberg explains that the company was anticipating phishing attacks and other types of threats. But says the company did not expect "coordinated attacks" from networks of fake accounts.
"I sat down with our team afterwards and said we will never be unprepared for this again."
10.06 a.m. PT: Mark Zuckerberg makes the case for Facebook’s importance.
After recapping the challenges Facebook has faced — fake news, Russian interference, and so on — Zuck makes the case for Facebook’s importance to the world. Before it was founded, he said, “you could find almost anything [online[ except the thing that matters to us most, people.”
10.04 a.m.: Bigs news right out the gate.
Mark Zuckerberg takes the stage with a joke: “welcome to F8, this has been an intense year, I can’t believe we’re only 4 months in.” And then some big news — the company is re-opening app reviews for developers. It faced some heavy criticism from the developer community over the suspension.
ZUCK TAKES STAGE
"This has been an intense year. I can't believe we're only four months in."
9.55 a.m. PT: Pseudo-rave tech conference vibes abound.
It’s less than five minutes until the Zuck is scheduled to take the stage. House music pounds, smoke machines quietly emit vapor, bright lights (in Facebook’s trademark blue, of course) roam the hall , visuals quietly morph on stage — creating a the atmosphere of a peculiarly sterile and subdued rave. Typical tech conference vibes in other words.
9:48 a.m. PT: Mark Zuckerberg is ruining the surprise.
Mark Zuckerberg has taken the wind out of this keynote slightly — by revealing many of the big announcements early. Facebook will allow users to erase their browsing history, for example, a major concession to privacy in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
9:00am PT: The lines to get in were already long when we got there.
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