Facebook’s app for the famous gets an update

6 Feb 2015

Facebook has rolled out changes to its celebrity-focused Mentions app, making it easier for the famous to interact with fans via the social network.

Facebook introduced the Mentions app last July to help those with verified Facebook pages connect with the public and each other, allowing them to track each time a user put their names in a public post, as well as giving the option to reply to it.

Two updates are now being added to the service that will allow the celebs to easily share updates, photos and videos to Instagram and Twitter, and add topics that they’re interested in to their Mentions feed. By adding a topic, users will be able to see public posts about that topic.

While Facebook may still be hot with celebrities, according to a 19-year-old University of Texas student, the service is like a family dinner party teens can’t leave.

In an article written for Medium, the teen suggested that real winner among social networks is Instagram, as it doesn’t have the social pressures of following people back on Facebook and mainly the content is of a higher quality.

“Instagram is by far the most used social media outlet for my age group,” he said. 

“Please note the verbiage there — it is the most used social media outlet. Meaning, although the most people are on Facebook, we actually post stuff on Instagram. It’s always fascinating to me to see a friend with 1,500 friends on Facebook only get 25 likes on a photo yet on Instagram (where she has 800 followers) she gets 253.”

Dean Van Nguyen was a contributor to Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com