14 DAY TRIAL // Photos is one of the unsung heroes of Facebook. The feature was not given much attention for years, yet it probably did more for the site's growth than any other single feature. Facebook is now the world's largest photo host and much of it is due to the tagging functionality built into the photos section.
What's even more intriguing is that tagging someone in a photo on Facebook is rather cumbersome, though that is gradually changing, especially with a brand new feature being rolled out, automatic tag suggestions based on face recognition technology.
"Every day, people add more than 100 million tags to photos on Facebook," Justin Mitchell, a Facebook engineer, writes.
"Unlike photos that get forgotten in a camera or an unshared album, tagged photos help you and your friends relive everything from that life-altering skydiving trip to a birthday dinner where the laughter never stopped," he adds.
"Since October, we've been working to make this process easier for you. First we added group tagging, so you could type one name and apply it to multiple photos of the same person. Now we're announcing tag suggestions, which will make tagging multiple photos even more convenient," he announced.
Facebook now uses face recognition technology to identify the same person in multiple photos. It groups the photos together and enables you to tag them together. This also enables Facebook to recognize the person in the future.
If it already has data, Facebook will offer tag suggestions if it thinks it got a close enough match. Users will be able to block Facebook from suggesting their names for tagging if they want.
Face recognition technology is nothing new, it was introduced in Google's Picasa more than a year ago for example, but, implemented at Facebook's scale, it should have a big impact on tagging on the site.
The feature is being rolled out gradually with five percent of users getting it next week and everyone else after a short time.