Facebook Rolls Out Shared Photo Albums

Facebook has allowed users to create personal albums for quite some time, with the albums having different setting options based on how the user plans to share the content. Given the nature of the social network, however, it isn't surprising that Facebook has taken this a step further, rolling out a shared photo albums feature.

The new feature is the by-product of what Facebook calls its hackathon, a time when workers can work on personal projects for Facebook rather than their typical day-to-day work. The idea was drummed up by one of the social network's engineers, Bob Baldwin, based on feedback users have given, and he was joined a short while later by coworker Fred Zhao. Together, they recruited approximately 12 others to help.

Says the engineers, workers would sometimes work on the project until the wee morning hours. The end result is the shared albums functionality, which allows multiple contributors to be part of an album rather than just a single user. Up to 50 users can all be part of the same album, and each can add up to 200 photographs. The album can then be shared to just the contributors of the album, all of their friends, or to the public in general.

Said Baldwin: "I think one thing that's really fun about creating products at Facebook is that you're never quite sure how people will use the product in the end. We're really excited for launch because we think people will use [shared albums] in ways that we're not even thinking of."

If you're not seeing the new feature yet, fret not: the feature is only rolling out to some English users today, and will then eventually be expanded to all of the social network's English speakers. From there, the feature will then head out to users across the globe, though no timeline was provided for this. Are you seeing the feature? Let us know what you like it!

SOURCE: Mashable