Facebook has added a much needed filter to its nostalgia-based On This Day feature, to ensure users aren’t being reminded of unhappy memories.
The new version of the Timehop-like tool lets Facebook members filter out certain people and dates from their timeline and the dedicated On This Day page.
So, if people don’t want see photos of themselves looking happy with an ex-partner, they can now choose to filter that person out.
If they don’t want an On This Day memory to pop up on the anniversary of an ill-fated engagement, bereavement or other sad occasion that date can be scrubbed from the calendar too.
We know that people share a range of meaningful moments on Facebook,” a company spokesperson told The Verge.
“As a result, everyone has various kinds of memories that can be surfaced — good, bad, and everything in between. So for the millions of people who use ‘On This Day,’ we’ve added these filters to give them more control over the memories they see.”
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The potential for unwanted memories to crop up in this feature has been an endemic flaw in On This Day since it arrived earlier this year. Indeed, for every great memory that pops up in the timeline there could be one that’s not so nice.
In the Charlie Kaufman-penned flick, former lovers Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet’s characters clinically erase memories of each other to ease their mutual suffering.
While removing them from Facebook doesn’t quite quash the bad memories, at least users won’t unexpectedly be confronted with them while checking in on social media.
You can adjust your own settings by going to Facebook.com/OnThisDay and hitting Preferences.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
