Facebook recently enabled its data portability feature all over the globe. It was initially rolled out for European countries, and now, after almost 6 months, it has been released for all users around the world, and that is great news.
This feature enables the users to directly transfer a copy of their photos to Google Photos, a photo storage service that stores photos through encrypted transfer. There is no need for the users to download the photos and then manually upload them.
This option of transferring a copy of photos and videos is given in the ‘Your Facebook Information’ settings menu. This is the same menu which used to give the option of ‘download a copy’ of any kind of information related to what the users need to download, including photos. But this option is not so convenient for most users as it provides a huge load of information that users may not even understand!
So, this mechanism of direct transfer is not only hassle-free, it is less time consuming and more efficient.
Although photo transfer has become easier now with the help of this feature, however, the choice narrows down to Google Photos only when it comes down to the location of storage. Facebook has said that support for other services is being worked on too, but it will require collaboration with developers to build the adapters necessary for photos APIs. This depends on an open-source effort called the Data Transfer Project.
This project started in 2018 and it was backed by various tech companies that wanted to develop a platform- to- platform data portability system. In a wider context, this type of powerful platform portability system can have a deleterious impact on competition and digital markets.
Some powerful tech companies will have to put some extra resources into data portability with a joint strategy to take care of the antitrust action which may bring a downfall to the dominant empires when they try to rebalance digital markets. But if the platforms build a solid case in favor of this platform-to-platform portability, this might help them with the new regulations in the digital markets without causing any apparent harm.
So far, the countries where Facebook had enabled this feature, no specific number of Facebook users who made use of this photo transferring tool is known, but it is said to have become quite famous, nonetheless.
Facebook also received positive feedback from stakeholders who have been showing their interest in the product from the beginning when it started to roll out.
It is hoped that it will become very popular once people start becoming aware of it and when new data types and destinations are added to the tool.
Read next: Facebook Stressed That The Company Is Not Sharing Users’ Data With Partners Such As Researchers or Academics
This feature enables the users to directly transfer a copy of their photos to Google Photos, a photo storage service that stores photos through encrypted transfer. There is no need for the users to download the photos and then manually upload them.
This option of transferring a copy of photos and videos is given in the ‘Your Facebook Information’ settings menu. This is the same menu which used to give the option of ‘download a copy’ of any kind of information related to what the users need to download, including photos. But this option is not so convenient for most users as it provides a huge load of information that users may not even understand!
So, this mechanism of direct transfer is not only hassle-free, it is less time consuming and more efficient.
Although photo transfer has become easier now with the help of this feature, however, the choice narrows down to Google Photos only when it comes down to the location of storage. Facebook has said that support for other services is being worked on too, but it will require collaboration with developers to build the adapters necessary for photos APIs. This depends on an open-source effort called the Data Transfer Project.
This project started in 2018 and it was backed by various tech companies that wanted to develop a platform- to- platform data portability system. In a wider context, this type of powerful platform portability system can have a deleterious impact on competition and digital markets.
Some powerful tech companies will have to put some extra resources into data portability with a joint strategy to take care of the antitrust action which may bring a downfall to the dominant empires when they try to rebalance digital markets. But if the platforms build a solid case in favor of this platform-to-platform portability, this might help them with the new regulations in the digital markets without causing any apparent harm.
So far, the countries where Facebook had enabled this feature, no specific number of Facebook users who made use of this photo transferring tool is known, but it is said to have become quite famous, nonetheless.
Facebook also received positive feedback from stakeholders who have been showing their interest in the product from the beginning when it started to roll out.
It is hoped that it will become very popular once people start becoming aware of it and when new data types and destinations are added to the tool.
Read next: Facebook Stressed That The Company Is Not Sharing Users’ Data With Partners Such As Researchers or Academics
