Many of my friends and family members have newborn children and their photos flood my Facebook News Feed. Some of my friends have even resorted to creating a separate Facebook account for their newborns with a fake age since people under the age of 13 are not allowed to join the social network. It can be difficult for parents to keep so many photos organized, which is why Facebook created a new feature called “Scrapbook.”
“Over the past few months, I’ve noticed the more pictures I shared of my son on Facebook, the more scattered they became across my different photo albums—I needed a better way to organize them. And, I found myself tagging my wife in photos of my son so her friends could see them, too,” said Facebook product manager Dan Barak in a news release. “Our team ran a small survey for parents who share pictures of their children on Facebook and found that 65% of them tag their partner in these photos to share them with their partner’s friends. These same parents also told us they want to collect photos of their little ones in a place that will grow with them over the years.” Barak came up with the idea for the Scrapbook feature after he had his first baby nine months ago named Rom and realized that it wasn’t possible to tag an infant.
The Scrapbook feature uses a special tag that you create. If you tag your child in a photo, it will be added to a customizable scrapbook. The photos that you decide to tag can be shared with your friends. After the Scrapbook is created, you and your partner will be shown photos tagged of both of you. If your child is also in the photo, then you can add it to the Scrapbook. Parents will be able to tag photos of their child in friends’ photos and receive a notification if the privacy setting of those photos changes.
Here is a video about how it works:
The Scrapbook tag can be the child’s name, the child’s initials or something creative. You can co-own the scrapbook with a partner who you are in a relationship with on Facebook. Only you and your partner can select which photos to tag. You and your partner will also be able to change the privacy settings of the Scrapbook.
How do you create a Facebook Scrapbook? Go to your profile and click the “About” button. Then click on “Family and Relationships.” If you see an invitation to create a scrapbook, then click on “Get Started.” If you have already added a child to your profile, then click on “Add Scrapbook” next to his or her name. The Scrapbook feature will be rolling out in the U.S. on Facebook for the desktop, iPhone and Android today.
What happens when the child turns 13? Facebook told TechCrunch that it is exploring a way to hand off control of the Scrapbook to the children when they turn 13 so that they can legally join Facebook. There will be an option to create a Scrapbook for your pet too. Facebook also plans to launch a “Subscribe” button for the Scrapbook so that loved ones will receive a notification whenever a photo is added. You will notice that the Facebook Scrapbook tutorial features an animated video starring an elephant named Elly:
Facebook Scrapbook / Credit: Facebook
Facebook has not figured out how to set up the Scrapbook to work for mixed families yet — which may include stepchildren and step-parents. Right now, just two people can be the Scrapbook owners and they have to be in a relationship on Facebook. It is possible for divorced parents to create separate Scrapbooks, but that may cause emotional issues.
Last week, Facebook also launched a feature called “A Look Back.” A Look Back lets you see what you posted on the same day over the past few years. This feature competes directly against a popular mobile app called Timehop.
What are your thoughts about the Facebook Scrapbook feature? Let us know in the comments section below!
