Facebook's Save Feature: A Bookmark to Tame the News Feed

Facebook eye illustrationFacebook is full of interesting things shared by friends. But the wealth of those shared links are moving fast that in a matter of time, it will disappear engulfed by other new shares. This can be a problem, especially when you're in hurry. Facebook saw that issue and made things easier by introducing Save feature.

On July 21st, 2014, Facebook introduced Save for web and mobile. The new feature acts as a bookmark for items you find interesting such as links, places, movies, TV shows and music. The saved items can be accessed later for viewing on the web or on mobile device.

The news came two years after Facebook acquired the social bookmark startup Spool,

Another feature for Save is that users can share their saved items with their Facebook friends. Saved items are personal, and they won't appear to your friends unless you choose to share them.

You can save an item from the News Feed by clicking the drop down menu in the post's upper righthand corner. If you're looking at a place or music Page, a new "Save" tab will appear under that Page's profile photo.

To access the Saved items on the web, users should click on the "Saved" feature on the left-hand side of their News Feed. On mobile, they can click on the "More" tab. Saved items are organized by category and can be opened, shared, or archived. If you save something and forget about it, Facebook will periodically notify the user about it.

The new feature brings a much-needed element to Facebook, which has made steps toward becoming the one-stop solution for all digital-social engagement, with a place for consuming news with its addition of trending topics and Facebook Paper, among other changes.

The new feature, like almost all components of the social network giant, is to keep users inside Facebook. The company is "borrowing" many features from others that it find interesting and useful in increasing user experience.

With the Save feature, users can use Facebook's own bookmarking service instead of saving items to Pinterest, Instapaper, Pocket, or other read-it-later services, that Facebook might find them as competitors from a minor league.

One thing that differentiate Save with Pocket or Instapaper is that Save doesn't cache content behind links. This makes it easy for users to stockpile links and contents without interrupting their News Feed reading.

Saving from mobile could make feed reading more valuable, especially when you only have a few moments to be online. And when the social giant was aked whether Save would power its ads targeting capabilities, Facebook answered that the company use the information they receive to enhance all of the services they provide, including by creating more relevant advertising for people and compelling value for marketers.