Facebook trying to make users reveal even more personal details through new features

Facebook's vice president for Latin America, Diego Dzodan, poses for a photograph at Estacao Hack on Paulista Avenue in Sao Paulo's financial centre, Brazil August 25, 2017: REUTERS/Nacho Doce
Facebook's vice president for Latin America, Diego Dzodan, poses for a photograph at Estacao Hack on Paulista Avenue in Sao Paulo's financial centre, Brazil August 25, 2017: REUTERS/Nacho Doce

Facebook has created a new feature designed to help users “get to know” each other better.

Fun Facts encourages you to publish personal details that you might not have shared on your profile.

It also invites you to create questions that anyone else can answer, even if you’re not friends with them.

The feature was spotted by Matt Navarra, who has posted screenshots of it to Twitter.

An instruction page for adding Fun Facts reads: “Answer any of these questions to help people get to know you”.

You can also choose an emoji to post alongside your Fun Fact, but this is optional.

The Create a Question feature is slightly more unusual, in that it appears to encourage you to interact with people you don’t know.

“Questions you create are public so anyone can answer them,” Facebook says.

The user who screen-grabbed the Create a Question page, Blake Tsuzaki, attempted to make their question: “Is mayonnaise an instrument?”

Facebook blocked it, calling it “invalid”.

While it’s certainly a silly question, it's unclear why Facebook decided against allowing it. The move suggests that the social network may only permit questions that are personal in nature.

Fun Facts is currently in testing and is, as such, not available to all users yet. If feedback proves positive, it could soon roll out much more widely, as an official feature.