Facebook, the most popular social networking site, has acquired Face.com, the facial recognition software company whose products power Facebook's photo tagging suggestions. Rumors of this acquisition began to circulate in late May itself.
Face.com not only provides technology for photo tagging suggestion, but also provides branded Facebook apps. One such application, Photo Tagger is very similar to the native Facebook app, while another app Photo Finder, the company's first app, helps users find untagged photos of themselves. Face.com offers an API (application programming interface) that powers third-party apps including CelebrityFindr, which allows users to search for photos of celebrities on Twitter using facial recognition technology.
According to the announcement, Face.com, even after being occupied, will continue to support third-party developers. Since, lots of developers use the technology to power various apps and make wonderful products, hence Face.com might have decided to support the third party developers even after the acquisition. Although the announcement did not reveal any specifics about what Facebook will do with the app company, but as per exerts Facebook may look to tailor Face.com's technology to craft a mobile experience.
Mobile, definitely being the next most important platform, Facebook will be concerned about, because the key to getting faces online is tapping the many cameras on mobile phones. After acquiring Face.com, Facebook will definitely take steps towards monetizing mobile users as effectively as it does desktop users. In that case, Facebook might also be interested in acquiring Face.com facial database.
Face.com not only provides technology for photo tagging suggestion, but also provides branded Facebook apps. One such application, Photo Tagger is very similar to the native Facebook app, while another app Photo Finder, the company's first app, helps users find untagged photos of themselves. Face.com offers an API (application programming interface) that powers third-party apps including CelebrityFindr, which allows users to search for photos of celebrities on Twitter using facial recognition technology.
According to the announcement, Face.com, even after being occupied, will continue to support third-party developers. Since, lots of developers use the technology to power various apps and make wonderful products, hence Face.com might have decided to support the third party developers even after the acquisition. Although the announcement did not reveal any specifics about what Facebook will do with the app company, but as per exerts Facebook may look to tailor Face.com's technology to craft a mobile experience.
Mobile, definitely being the next most important platform, Facebook will be concerned about, because the key to getting faces online is tapping the many cameras on mobile phones. After acquiring Face.com, Facebook will definitely take steps towards monetizing mobile users as effectively as it does desktop users. In that case, Facebook might also be interested in acquiring Face.com facial database.
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