In recognition of their 10th anniversary, the team over at Facebook added this new feature that enables users to automatically generate a video montage of the most memorable posts, pictures and events that they have shared since joining the popular social network. Considering that the video was probably compiled and edited via a set of programming based algorithms, I have to admit that I was impressed at the end result of my video. However, many of my friends had different takes on the new feature.
One of my friends likened the automated video creation to coming home and finding a stranger going through your photo albums and pulling random pictures out. Another friend called the videos “creepy” because “how could Facebook truly understand what memories are most important to me”. Others reported not needing to be reminded of past relationships, deceased relatives, or the loss of beloved family pets. And despite really liking my own video, after looking a number of my friend’s video, I totally see their point.
The look back videos were extremely “algorithmic”. The sampling of the movies I watched ran the entire gambit from depressing, to inane, to some that nearly made me cry, and others that were wildly inappropriate in really funny ways. And while I thought that the feature worked well of off my posts, photos and likes, in the end when all is said and done, the problem with algorithms is that they can’t account for things like individual taste and common sense.