Facebook, the social media conglomerate that is known for copying features from other innovative companies is doing something that converges the efforts of the industry giants and significantly benefits users on a mass level. First, it was just Facebook for all Facebook-related data, be it photos, videos, media, or events and the data could not be shared with other technology companies, especially industry rivals like Google. However, the social media conglomerate is changing that and it has recently expanded the service to benefit its users.
Yes, according to recent reports, Facebook added two new companies to its list of recipients which will allow Facebook users to move their data from one social network to another. As mentioned in a report by Engadget, Facebook users will now be able to save all of their photos from the app, directly to Photobucket. Not just this, Facebook has also announced to add Google Calendar to its list of apps as well. So, now users will be able to save their events on Google Calendar effortlessly which was definitely not possible before.
Other than this, Facebook users will now be able to launch multiple transfers at once with better fine-grain control on what they are choosing to transfer in one go. The question is, why is Facebook being so generous with its users, let alone its competitors in the industry?
The answer to this question is an assigned project between Facebook, Microsoft, and Google- The Data Transfer Project that enables users to transfer their data to any competing application. As mentioned in a report by Engadget, this is all a part of the bigger ACCESS Act that has been long in progress. This Act will most likely govern data transfers within social media and other competing applications in the market, making it much easier and convenient for users to have their data segregated into applications of their choice. For instance, if I want all of my pictures backed on the Photobucket app, I can easily transfer my Facebook photos directly from the Facebook app on my device to instantly transfer all photos to Photobucket without any restrictions from the social media conglomerate.
For someone who uses Google Drive or Google Photos to back up all of their data, Facebook will directly allow transfers to Google Drive or Dropbox or Blogger, or WordPress.
The ACCESS Act is for the betterment of users and to reduce the competition in the market by allowing the easy flow of data. However, Facebook addresses a major issue to the government asking to clear out the rules on who is responsible for protecting that data as it gets transferred to multiple services. A valid question, indeed!
