Facebook and Instagram have rolled out Year in Review features respectively, allowing users to reminisce about their time on the platform over this past year.
Well, it’s that time of the year again; and no, I do not mean the holiday season, this is a tech journal, sir. No, I’m referring to it being rewind time again! Cue the GIFs of Will Smith looking through a telescope, and all of the social media platforms sharing their highlights for the year. Looking back at 2020 and 2021 in retrospect, especially through the lens of our online social media lives, is a particularly interesting pastime. Mostly because, unlike the years before them, much of these two were spent with the general populace under lockdown and with nowhere to escape to but the internet. Smartphone usage shot up, memes started getting old in weeks instead of months, people across TikTok started getting surprisingly creative with their content, an entire riot against the US Capitol was arranged online (then again, it’s not like racists ever had anything better to do than scheme and plot). Overall, the extreme excess with which we were all on our technological devices should make for an overall interesting retrospective look.
Twitter has already disappointed to no end, with its review of 2021 being nothing more than a soulless cash-grab online award ceremony, with branding and advertisements winning left and right. Hooray consumerism was not the chant I wanted to get out of a social media retrospect. Facebook and Instagram decided to go in a very different direction with their work, in that their retrospectives are entirely centered around the users as individuals. Thus, comes in the Year in Review tab and Year Together cards!
A Year Together card highlights and complies the best online experiences with one’s friends and loved ones online, making for a rather endearing collage. Instagram’s approach revolves around Stories, with users being allowed to share a pre-rendered Time Capsule, featuring highlights across 2021. However, with both the Year Together card as well as the Time Capsule, users are completely capable of customization, and can add their own pictures and moments. In fact, since the Time Capsule is a Story based scenario, users can directly share fun Stories onto them from the Archive. Both of these features will be available until the 30th of this month, which means users can easily take their time in crafting the perfect 2021 capsule or card.
Read next: Facebook Is Adding In A New Professional Mode For Profiles To Help Creator Grow On The Social Network
Well, it’s that time of the year again; and no, I do not mean the holiday season, this is a tech journal, sir. No, I’m referring to it being rewind time again! Cue the GIFs of Will Smith looking through a telescope, and all of the social media platforms sharing their highlights for the year. Looking back at 2020 and 2021 in retrospect, especially through the lens of our online social media lives, is a particularly interesting pastime. Mostly because, unlike the years before them, much of these two were spent with the general populace under lockdown and with nowhere to escape to but the internet. Smartphone usage shot up, memes started getting old in weeks instead of months, people across TikTok started getting surprisingly creative with their content, an entire riot against the US Capitol was arranged online (then again, it’s not like racists ever had anything better to do than scheme and plot). Overall, the extreme excess with which we were all on our technological devices should make for an overall interesting retrospective look.
Twitter has already disappointed to no end, with its review of 2021 being nothing more than a soulless cash-grab online award ceremony, with branding and advertisements winning left and right. Hooray consumerism was not the chant I wanted to get out of a social media retrospect. Facebook and Instagram decided to go in a very different direction with their work, in that their retrospectives are entirely centered around the users as individuals. Thus, comes in the Year in Review tab and Year Together cards!
A Year Together card highlights and complies the best online experiences with one’s friends and loved ones online, making for a rather endearing collage. Instagram’s approach revolves around Stories, with users being allowed to share a pre-rendered Time Capsule, featuring highlights across 2021. However, with both the Year Together card as well as the Time Capsule, users are completely capable of customization, and can add their own pictures and moments. In fact, since the Time Capsule is a Story based scenario, users can directly share fun Stories onto them from the Archive. Both of these features will be available until the 30th of this month, which means users can easily take their time in crafting the perfect 2021 capsule or card.
Read next: Facebook Is Adding In A New Professional Mode For Profiles To Help Creator Grow On The Social Network